India News | Over 50 Pc Posts in Pollution Control Bodies Vacant, Says CPCB Report

New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI) More than 50 per cent of the sanctioned posts in all state pollution control boards and committees are lying vacant, according to central government data.

The data is part of a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal on Tuesday.

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India's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report revealed that 6,075 (50.56 per cent) of the 12,016 sanctioned posts in 28 state pollution control boards and eight pollution control committees are vacant.

The Bihar State Pollution Control Board has the maximum vacancy with 209 (84 per cent) of the 249 posts unoccupied. In Jharkhand, 198 (73 per cent) of the 271 posts are vacant.

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Delhi, which grapples with hazardous air pollution levels every winter, has 153 (44 per cent) vacancies against its 344 sanctioned posts. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee has, however, engaged 111 contractual employees.

In 13 states and Union Territories, the vacancies range between 58 per cent and 84 per cent. These are Andhra Pradesh (69 per cent), Bihar (84 per cent), Gujarat (62 per cent), Haryana (63 per cent), Jharkhand (73 per cent), Karnataka (60 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (63 per cent), Manipur (62 per cent), Odisha (58 per cent), Rajasthan (59 per cent), Uttarakhand (61 per cent), Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (83 per cent), and Ladakh (69 per cent).

Sixteen states and Union Territories, including Haryana, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, have engaged 1,091 employees on a contractual basis.

There are 190 environmental laboratories in the state pollution control boards/pollution control committees -- 31 at the central level and 159 at the zonal/regional/district level.

Fifty-four percent of the total 2,965 posts in these laboratories are vacant. 16 state pollution control boards and pollution control committees have engaged 449 scientific staff on a contractual basis.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)