Bhubaneswar, July 18: The state government has sanctioned creation of posts and decided to fill up 2.4 lakh vacancies that have fallen vacant over the past 10 years, finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat told the Assembly today.

The minister said the vacancies had arisen following retirement, resignation and dismissal of government employees. However, these posts could not be filled up due to recruitment freeze and pending court cases.

Responding to an Opposition-sponsored adjournment motion on large-scale vacancies in government establishments, Amat said steps were being taken to fill up the vacancies.

On June 24, the state government decided to fill up 40,000 essential posts within six months. Besides, the government has enhanced the retirement age of its employees from 58 years to 60 years, as a result of which, there would be no vacancy on account of retirement for the next two years, he said.

The minister, however, admitted that as many as 45,413 entry-level posts had been abolished during 1999-2008. But after 2008, the base-level posts were not being abolished.

Amat said the recruitment freeze was effected following signing of an MoU between the state government and the Centre in April 1999 in order to bring a fiscal discipline.

was necessitated as the salary and pension bill had reached 160 per cent of the state’s own resources at that time. The state had to depend on the ways and means advance and overdraft most of the days.

“But the situation has changed, and the state has achieved a turnaround. Since 2005-06, the state has been creating revenue surplus and the dependence on debt has been reduced,” he said.

Moving the motion, Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati said: “The administrative machinery has been paralysed due to vacancies in government establishments, be it schools, hospitals or tehsils. The state government is not giving employment to lakhs of educated unemployed youths in the name of fiscal discipline.”

BJP member Pradip Purohit said the administration had been paralysed due to the government’s lack of foresight.