545 VAW, 268 AAO posts lying vacant

The State Government would emphasise on filling up of all field-level agriculture posts in order to boost agricultural growth in the State during the current year, said Industries and School and Mass Education Minsiter Debi Prasad Mishra on behalf of Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Replying to a question put by Congress member Tara Prasad Bahinipati and additional questions by many other members, the Minister said the Government is also emphasising on giving employment to OUAT students. Out of 3,218 sanctioned VAW posts, 545 posts are lying vacant in different districts. Similarly, 268 out of 1, 166 AAO posts, 18 out of 100 DAO posts and 28 out of 41 DDA posts are lying vacant. In engineering posts, 199 out of 1,568 Agriculture Overseer posts and 10 out of 91 Assistant Agriculture Engineers posts are lying vacant.

Informing that 376 youths having Graduation and Post Graduation degrees in Agriculture had been given jobs in 2013 and 2014, Mishra said steps have been initiated to fill up 72 AAO posts. To fill up the rest vacant posts, the consent of the Empowered Committee formed by the Government has been sought, the Minister said. The Minister said a total of 2,616 students passed from various colleges under the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) during three years from 2011-12 to 2013-14 and out of them 2385 have been absorbed in various posts in Government and Private sectors. The rest 231 students are yet to get jobs, the Minister said.

All steps are being taken under the State Agriculture Policy to provide various incentives and training to adopt modern technology to boost agricultural growth in the State. “A total of 2,863 tractors, 14, 445 power tillers and 3,32,000 pump sets have been provide to farmers at subsidised rates,” the Minister informed.

The Minister said the vacancy gap in horticulture sector is more and steps are being taken to fill up the posts. As many as 171 Group D posts and 521 Group C posts in Horticulture sector are currently lying vacant. Similarly, some Horticulture Officer posts are also lying vacant, he informed.