Samit Sharma, secretary of PHED and ground water department is ready with draft transfer policy. The policy can be implemented after clearance from the cabinet.
This transfer policy is aimed at bringing transparency in staff movement and curbing any kind of corruption. The policy would not be applicable for single post.
As per the policy, officers from chief engineer to assistant engineer will get a fixed tenure of not less than three years before getting transferred. However, the tenure may be extended to five years in extraordinary situation or as per need of the department.
The staff who wants transfer will have to apply in the month of January on online portal. The department will scrutinise the application forms and execute transfers from the month of February to April. Beyond that no transfer will happen except in extraordinary conditions.
Apart from that, officers or staff will be able to get posting on previously held post after a minimum gap of two years.
Preference to staff suffering from rare diseases in transfer policy
In this draft policy, preference of choice posting would be given if officers or their spouses are suffering from rare and chronic diseases. Apart from that staff working in dark zone districts like Jaisalmer, Jalore and Alwar among others would also be given preference.
Even those who have been left with less than one year in retirement will not be disturbed.
Why need for a transparent policy?
PHED is one of the most important departments responsible for water supply in the state. This is one of the largest departments also and plagued with preferential transfers. To bring stability, transparency in transfers and curb corruption, a clear cut transfer policy is the need of hour. Once the policy is implemented, deserving officers and staff will be able to get postings and transfers without any bias.
Prakash Bhandari is a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience. He has worked with The Times of India for 30 years and contributed to leading publications as well as international news agency AFP.
