A meeting of the Odisha Welfare Field Officers’ Association (OWFOA) was held here on Monday being presided over by OWFOA president Basant Kumar Rath (OWS) and attended by all office-bearers of the association and district-level representatives.
The meeting expressed concern over the State Government’s SC and ST Department’s apathy to fulfil the legitimate demands of the association.
The members and even their representatives are not allowed to meet the authorities to put forth their grievances.
It was felt at the meeting that Welfare Extension Officers 9 WEOs) based at block levels are failing to make much progress in their career graph because of the inadequate promotions opportunities.
This limited and squeezed promotion opportunity has created a sense of discouragement among the WEOs.
It was regretted that although the association has been demanding restructuring of the WEOs cadres, the Government is not paying any heed to it.
“Instead of going in for cadre restructuring of the OWEs, the department is sending a proposal on its own to the Finance Department for approval. As a result, it the proposal is getting rejected,” said the OWFAO president.
The meeting demanded strict adherence to the cadre restructuringprocedure, increase in the number of promotions for WEOs which is presently capped at 50, posts of Project Administrators (ITDA) be filled by promoted WEOs and holding the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meetings in January every year.