Telangana AEOs Struggle with Staff Shortage Amid Digital Crop Survey Rollout
30 Sep 2024 6:45 AM GMT
The 2,600 staff are expected to survey around one crore fifty lakh acres of agricultural land in the state. (Representational image: pjtsau.edu.in)
Hyderabad: Agriculture extension officers in Telangana tasked with holding the centrally sponsored digital crop survey are flagging shortage of staff at the village level and are seeking the appointment of additional staff on temporary basis akin to other states. They say the 2,600 of them who perform 49 regular tasks would be hard-pressed to fulfill this additional burden as part of which they have to take photographs of the crop in each acre of land in their purview.
Each AEO on average works in six to seven villages as part of their regular duty. They say lack of staff at the village level is being a handicap for them. The 2,600 staff are expected to survey around one crore fifty lakh acres of agricultural land in the state.
“When the work was taken up on a pilot basis in one mandal we needed 15 to 20 AEOs to complete it. The staff to partake in the survey were trained on September 19 and asked to become part of it from September 24. Those who do not download the app for undertaking the survey are being browbeaten by issuing show cause notices and other measures. The AEOs have been expressing their displeasure on these measures to the district collectors, ministers and MLAs. We met the agriculture director and explained our problems to him,” said Bandela Suman, treasurer of AEOs union.
The government should either hire more hands on a temporary basis or outsource the work to private agencies and entrust us the onus of overseeing it, he said.
Each AEO on average works in six to seven villages as part of their regular duty. They say lack of staff at the village level is being a handicap for them. The 2,600 staff are expected to survey around one crore fifty lakh acres of agricultural land in the state.
“When the work was taken up on a pilot basis in one mandal we needed 15 to 20 AEOs to complete it. The staff to partake in the survey were trained on September 19 and asked to become part of it from September 24. Those who do not download the app for undertaking the survey are being browbeaten by issuing show cause notices and other measures. The AEOs have been expressing their displeasure on these measures to the district collectors, ministers and MLAs. We met the agriculture director and explained our problems to him,” said Bandela Suman, treasurer of AEOs union.
The government should either hire more hands on a temporary basis or outsource the work to private agencies and entrust us the onus of overseeing it, he said.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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