UP govt to restructure state departments, remove 20,000 posts

The Uttar Pradesh government is going to take steps to make changes in its administrative structure soon, based on the recommendations of a committee. As per the sources, the state government would consider merging several state departments, with as many as 95 departments in the fray to be restructured into 54 departments.

Aside from restructuring and revamping of the government departments, the government is going to take an assessment of the number of government employees in various departments. It is reported that the UP government believed that this process would not only reduce the number of departments but also help with the speed with which work takes place.

It is further reported that more than 20,000 posts in the irrigation department and primary schools in Uttar Pradesh would be done away with if the state government accepted the recommendations of the committee. At the same time, as many as 59,000 posts would be created in other departments in the state.

In this respect, the state government has invited suggestions from these departments till February 20.

The government had earlier constituted a committee in January 2018 under Sanjay Aggarwal, who was the Additional Chief Secretary then. The committee's mandate was to make suggestions about restructuring state departments. It is reported that the committee recommended that the government let go of around 41 of its departments and bring down the total number of departments from 95 to 57.

The committee recommended setting up of a village secretariat in around 59,000 gram panchayats and posting trained government personnel in them.

Other suggestions of the committee included removing various existing posts that became redundant in departments. It suggested creating new positions based on new requirements. According to the committee, people who worked in departments with large deployments could be adjusted in those departments which had lesser members.