The central government has sanctioned an increase in the number of IAS officers serving under the Gujarat government, taking the total strength of administrative officers up to 345. Earlier, the sanctioned strength of officials in the state was 299. The state government's representation before the Centre to increase sanction for cadres was accepted recently. A senior official in the Gujarat government said, "The Centre gave the sanction a few days back and now the sanctioned cadres for IAS officers in Gujarat will be 345. This will enable new officials to join administration of Gujarat government. There is an acute crunch of senior officials in the state administration after many of the state cadre IAS officers have moved to New Delhi on central deputation." He added that the state government had asked for more cadres when new districts had been formed and new administrative positions had been created: "The state government had made the representation long time back after new districts were formed in the state. This required more officials in the posts of collectors, district development officers and many others. With this new sanction, the government will be able to fill the vacant places as many of them are run by the officers in charge." The state government, however, will not be able to fill all these positions at one go as the central government has a policy on the number of officials allocated in a particular cadre. But, there is also a chance to promote more officials from the state civil services to the IAS as one-third of the total strength comes from the other cadres.

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