Cuttack: The state government has decided to restructure the district ministerial cadre, which forms a part of the three-tier ministerial services system, within two months.

The other two cadres constitute of secretariat staff and heads of departments staff.

"It is a historic decision as it has paved the way for restructuring of the district ministerial services cadre after 34 years," said Braja Nanda, general secretary of Odisha Non-Gazetted Officers' Co-Ordination Committee (ONOCC).

"Around 35,000 district-level ministerial employees of the state government will be benefitted by the restructuring of their cadre," Nanda said.

Restructuring of the cadre was a long standing demand of the ONOCC and the Odisha Ministerial Officers' Association (OMOA).

Though there had been routine restructuring of the cadres of secretariat staff and heads of departments staff, the same was not done in the case of their counterparts in the districts. Consequently, they reeled from stagnation at any particular level.

Nanda said the decision was taken by senior officers of the general administration department in the presence of member representatives of the ONOCC and the OMOA at a meeting on June 23.

"The general administration department's decision was given the stamp of approval by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on July 7," the ONOCC general secretary said on Wednesday.

The district ministerial cadre presently constitutes of junior clerks, senior clerks and head clerks.

"The government has now decided to re-designate them and restructure them into junior assistant, senior assistant, section officer, establishment officer and senior establishment officer," Nanda said.

The Common Odisha Ministerial Services (Method of Recruitment to the Post of Junior Clerk in the Department Office) Rules, 1995, will remain functional with amendment only to the extent of re-designation/creation of posts as decided, official sources said.