Report by OD bureau; Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government has decided to appoint 6,384 new panchayat officers.  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday sanctioned 6,384 new posts for appointment of GPDOs and GPTAs in 18 Maoist-infested districts where the Centrally assisted Integrated Action Plan (IAP) is being implemented.

This was informed by the Panchyati Raj Minister Kalpataru Das. Minister Das the State Government on Tuesday decided to appoint Gram Panchayat Development Officers (GPDO) and Gram Panchayat Technical  Assistants (GPTA) in all gram panchayats in a phased manner to help the fruits of development reach the rural people.

 Of the total posts, while each of the 3,793 panchayats would have GPDOs, GPTAs would be enaged in 2,591 panchayats of the IAP districts in the first phase. Stating that the posts are of district cadre, the Minister said the Collectors of the districts would appoint the GPDOs and GPTAs from among suitable candidates of the concerned districts. He said while the minimum qualification for the GPDOs is graduation, candidates with Civil Engineering Diploma would be illegible for the post of GPTAs.

The State Government had taken the decision to engage the GPDOs and GPTAs in panchayats as the implementation of developmental programmes were affected due to the shortage of staffs.