Headless Mechanical & Hospital Division department in Handwara hits smooth workflow

Bandipora, Jan 21: The Mechanical and Hospital division Handwara, in north Kashmir's Kupwara district has seen administrative workflow taking a hit due to the absence of executive engineer for over two months, affecting Ganderbal, Kupwara and Bandipora districts.

Insiders privy to the matter disclosed to Greater Kashmir that the absence of the official was hindering the smooth workflow of the vital department, leaving it without DDO powers to even hire men for snow clearance operations.

Notably, the division, which came into existence in September 2023, has two subdivisions: Subdivision-I Handwara and Subdivision-II Bandipora.

The Subdivision Handwara looks after all snow clearance operations in Kupwara district, besides looking after the maintenance of GMC Handwara, District Hospital (DH) Handwara and sub-district hospital Kupwara.

It includes the maintenance of all oxygen plants, central heating systems, lights and other mechanical works.

Bandipora Subdivision without AEE

The Bandipora subdivision at Mangnipora, which is without an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) since October 2024, similarly maintains mechanical works at District Hospital Bandipora and DH Ganderbal and sub-district hospital Kangan in central Kashmir.

The subdivision also looks after snow clearance operations of Bandipora district, which includes Gurez, besides clearance operations of Ganderbal district, which includes Sonamarg.

The department has to clear snow from 539 kilometres in Bandipora, 107 km in Gurez, 284 km in Ganderbal and 804 kilometres in Kupwara district. The division has a total staff strength of 53 regular employees and 24 casual employees.

With so much area to cover in the absence of executive officials, insiders said the operations of the department were being hit as the divisions were not able to hire contractual staff during extreme weather to expedite snow clearance operations, which earned them the wrath of the public. "Although there is one technical officer from Handwara who has been given additional charges of AEE for Bandipora, he has no financial powers," one insider privy to the matter told Greater Kashmir.

Without it, tenders or other works, insiders said, were not getting executed on time, or at certain intervals lapsed. Besides this, there was the issue of salaries, which, without these officials, had been stuck for two months.

Moreover, bills for contractors were also getting delayed, which negatively affected the smooth working of the department. The persons in the know shared that the problem was doubled due to the absence of the executive officer.

"There was a requirement of extra machinery recently for snow clearance operations for Bandipora subdivision, but without an executive engineer at the divisional office, we couldn't procure any," the insiders added. One official said it was an "important division" as districts Kupwara, Bandipora and Ganderbal come under it.

Chief Engineer (M&HED) Manga Ram Kotwal confirmed to Greater Kashmir the absence of officials from two months. He said they have written to the higher ups and are waiting for the posts to be filled. "The department overlooks almost all snow clearance operations in Kashmir besides other operations in Jammu Divisions," he said, emphasising the importance of the department. He said even the Srinagar division has no executive officer, as he retired days ago.

"The government is aware of staff shortages, particularly in essential services. The worthy CS has only yesterday asked secretaries to various departments to work out how issues of pending promotions and filling of vacancies can be addressed . We will also pursue," said MLA Bandipora, Nizammudin Bhat