Agricultural group seeks full-time chief

To press for their long-pending demands, the Punjab Agriculture Technocrats Action Committee, Punjab (AG TECH) has demanded the appointment of a permanent director of the department from the technical side and that a large number of vacancies for several posts in the department be filled soon. The committee held a meeting Sunday.

The members said the department had been facing serious staff crunch for a long time and also had not had a permanent director since 2001.

Kuldeep Singh Mattewal, general secretary, AG TECH, said issues such as farmer suicides, farming becoming profitless etc. were discussed in the meeting. He said, “Although the new government had started several efforts that we welcome, we want to bring the attention of the government towards over 600 vacancies out of total 934 posts of agricultural development officers in Punjab.