Summary:
Shillong, Mar 14 (PTI) The Meghalaya government has been pursuing with the Centre for creation of a separate Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre for the state so that it can get more such officers, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma informed the Assembly on Monday.
Replying to a query of Congress member Ampareen Lyngdoh, Sangma said that he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month urging him to consider approving a proposal to have a separate IAS cadre for the North-eastern state. "Since the North East Reorganisation Amendment Act, 2012 divided the Manipur-Tripura cadre, we have been pushing for this and we are still pursuing this matter.
If this happens, we will have more cadre strength than what we have right now," he said.
Meghalaya is facing a huge deficit of IAS officers.
There are only 41 IAS officers - 23 direct recruits and 18 promoted - while the state"s sanctioned strength is 77 besides five who are on central deputation.
The chief minister said that compared to many other states in the region, the cadre strength of Meghalaya is less.