At a time when Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) to provide electricity connections to 13,000 household across Assam in five months, it has come to light that 5,200 post are presently lying vacant in APDCL.

A highly placed source in Dispur has informed that the power department has not taken any step to fill up the vacant posts, as a result of which as many as 3,100 posts of Assistants are lying vacant in APDCL. It may be mentioned here that the Assistants are the ones who tend to issues such as defunct transformers and wires.

As many as 1,800 Grade III posts along with 300 posts of engineers are also lying vacant. This shortage of staff has led to hurdles in not only operations of the department but also its development.

It may be mentioned here that electricity consumers across the state are ever increasing, with around 42 lakhs customers of APDCL presently. 1,800 megawatt electricity is consumed in the state per day.

While electricity consumers across the state are increasing on a regular basis, shortage of staff in APDCL has raised issues of concern regarding electricity supply and proper functioning of the power department of the state.