Peeved at the nonchalant attitude of Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike towards initiating action against an alleged sexual harassment accused working on contract basis at department’s head office, the members of Punjab State Veterinary Officers’ Association (PSVOA) on Wednesday staged a dharna.
The members condemned the authorities of the department for creating an atmosphere of terror.
PSVOA president Dr Ashok Sharma, while addressing the dharna, said that during the past few years, the department has nosedived due to anti-people, anti-employee policies and negative attitude of senior officers.
“By taking stern action in trivial and non-existent matters, the authorities were bullying the Veterinary Officers by serving charge sheets and threatening and stoppage of increments for example in the case of three doctors namely Dr Rajiv Verma, Dr Raj Kumar Gupta and Dr Mohan lal Sabharwal of Patiala and Dr Parminder Singh of Faridkot,” he said.
Dr Sharma added that such working of the department has not only demoralised and de-motivated their cadre, but also other staff. “If positive steps are not taken to restore the confidence and morale of staff, the Association will be forced to resort to agitation,” he added.
Dr Sharma lamented that ad-hocism prevailed in the department as no placements or promotions had been done since many years due to which out of five sanctioned posts of Joint Directors, four are vacant.
“Similarly, out 23 post of Deputy Director, 21 posts are vacant and out of 93 posts of Assistant Director or Senior Veterinary Officer, majority of them are vacant,” he pointed.