Election work affecting govt functioning: officials

The senior officials are worried as it is likely that the government may dissolve the Assembly by August-end,soon after which the code of conduct will be implemented.

“The work of tendering in various developmental projects should begin on the ground before the code is implemented. We have instructions from headquarters to manually send files for sanctioning so that work begins well before that. However,I do not have sufficient manpower to even to take the files to Chandigarh,” a senior PWD official said.

With both estate officers and town planners involved in election work,the Haryana Urban Development Authority has other issues to worry about.

“Where a public grievance meeting was being held every week on Tuesday,we are being forced to reduce the frequency to every alternate Tuesday due to a staff crunch,” a HUDA official said.

“This is a technical department and our officials have no knowledge of election procedures. Pulling out most of the staff only delays time-bound work. This will only lead to public work piling up.”

Rajender Kataria,Gurgaon deputy commissioner,has not only asked for an elaborate survey and continuous up-gradation of the electoral rolls but has also involved draftsmen from the District Town Planner and Municipal Corporation in the preparation of detailed maps of the Badshapur and Gurgaon Assembly constituencies in a joint effort with the revenue department.

“This is a waste of effort,one does not really need to make maps for the electoral process,” an official from the Municipal Corporation said.

The deputy commissioner has said the final publication of the

electoral rolls is scheduled to be

completed by the first week of September.