The irregular presence of the senior city health officer of the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun, Dr RK Singh, is creating problems for the locals. Singh is handling two charges — one in Dehradun and one in Mussoorie which prevents him from being present daily at his office in Dehradun during regular hours.
Congress councillor Dr Vijendra Pal Singh informed that RK Singh was earlier serving as the senior city health officer at Mussoorie but after the promotion of the previous Dehradun senior city health officer, Dr Gurpal Singh to the post of chief medical officer, Dr RK Singh was handed over the additional charge of Dehradun’s senior city health officer.
He said that this has become a major reason for the inconvenience of the locals visiting Dr RK Singh’s office for various works. He further said that the councillors had also raised this issue in the recently held board meeting with the board members deciding to facilitate redressal of the issue in the near future. When asked about the irregular presence of the senior city health officer, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli replied, “This is the responsibility of the Health department and I cannot do much in this matter.”
Meanwhile, Dr RK Singh said, “The individual presence of the official should not be mandatory in the offices, if he is able to work from outside as well. I have to handle the charge in Mussoorie and Dehradun simultaneously which is surely a challenging job but I easily manage both the offices at the same time,” he said.
“My works have never been delayed and I try my best to maintain equal balance between my two posts,” he said while adding that he attends office in Mussoorie on two days of the week- Tuesday and Saturday, while on the remaining days he is available at his MCD office. He averred that his work doesn’t get affected even in his absence as he is always available through phone and e-mail.
Councillor, Satish Kashyap, said that the absence of the senior health officer in MCD premises creates problems for the locals visiting his office. Generally, the senior city health officer is also the registrar of birth and death and has the responsibility of issuing the death and birth certificates. He said that this work gets delayed due to his absence in the Dehradun office causing much public inconvenience.