Cuttack District Congress president Manas Choudhury has alleged that about 10 departments in the State Government are going headless with their posts of Secretaries lying vacant since long. In some places, while the Secretaries are not leaving their concerned departments since last seven to eight years and in others, there are none

Secretaries to head them. Instead Secretaries of other departments have been given additional charges or running them as proxies, he said.

The Department of School and Mass Education which is building the future of the State children has been running without a Secretary since   a long time.

The Principal Secretary to Government, MSME Department, has been given additional charge of Principal Secretary to Government, School and Mass Education Department.

Similarly another important department, Women and Child Development is running without a Secretary. Likewise, Principal Secretary of Water Resources Department has been given additional charge of the department. The post of Secretary is lying vacant in the Department of Agriculture when Odisha is an agrarian State.

As the Secretary, Agriculture is on deputation in Delhi, the responsibilities are carried out by the Special Secretary of the department. Similarly, the department of Information and Technology is being run on proxy.

The present Secretary of Department of Information and Technology is an officer belonging to the Railway Department. He has come to Odisha on deputation.

He originally belongs to the Department of Commerce and Transport. But he is in additional charges of the departments of IT, Science and Technology. He has been even assigned an important responsibility in the CMO.  The post of Secretary of Excise Department is lying vacant as well. The Chief Election Commissioner is in additional charge of the department. The Development Commissioner is also in additional charge of Rural Development Department. The Government is not appointing aSecretary to this important department.

The Development Commissioner is also in additional charges of Rural Development and SRC. Permanent assignments are not being entrusted to reliable persons in these two departments.

 The Secretary of Cooperative Department is in additional charge of Food Supply and Consumer Welfare. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is in additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs

Department. As there is no permanent Secretary in the Department of Information and Public Relations, the Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management has been assigned to run the department. There is no permanent Secretary in the Sports Department whereas Bhubaneswar is being considered as Sports Capital of Odisha.

The Secretary of Tourism Department is in additional charge of the Sports Department. Likewise, the Secretary of Skill Development Department is one among the Secretaries who is in additional charge of many important departments.

He is alone in additional charges of important posts like Commissioner, BMC, Vice Chairman, BDA and CEO, Smart City. Similarly, the Secretary, Works is in additional charge of IDCO and Chief Administrator, Lord Jagannath Temple, Puri.

The Principal Secretaries of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, and Housing and Urban Development are ones who have scored records for serving their respective departments for the longest time.

The duo Principal Secretaries have already spent seven years in their concerned departments.