Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 24: Jammu and Kashmir’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) supervisors today highlighted decades-long stagnation and alleged bias in recruitment and promotion rules.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Abida War, President of the JK ICDS Supervisors Union, highlighted the grievances of approximately 1,100 supervisors in the region. “For decades, files related to our promotions have been gathering dust in the secretariat. Despite several directors approving our cases, there has been no action,” she said.
She said that the structure of promotional opportunities of supervisors is severely bottlenecked. For 1,100 supervisors, there are only 19 sanctioned posts of Assistant Child Development Project Officers (ACDPOs). Since the inception of the ICDS scheme in 1957, only three supervisors have been promoted to ACDPOs. “This is blatant injustice. While people recruited in 2017 are being considered for promotions despite having similar qualifications, those of us working since 1990 have been overlooked. Supervisors are forced to ‘look after’ CDPO roles without additional incentives, drawing only their basic salaries,” she said.
She said The Jammu and Kashmir tribunal has already issued a stay on the promotions of Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs) until the recruitment rules are amended. She said supervisors have been struggling to amend these rules since 2013 as the existing system favors certain cadres over others.
She appealed to the Social Welfare Minister, Sakeena Itoo, and the Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, to intervene and address their long-standing grievances. “This is a call for justice. We urge the government to end the pay anomalies and amend the biased recruitment rules to ensure fair promotional avenues for supervisors,” said War.
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