PANAJI
Principal Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) Uttam Parsekar, who got his third service extension a few days ago, is among five heads of departments currently in service on extensions in the Goa administration.
The other heads of departments serving on extension are: Vivek Kamat (Director of Technical Education), Chief Town Planner Rajesh Naik, Director of Accounts Dilip Humraskar and WRD Chief Engineer Pramod Badami.
Official data shows as many as 45 high-ranking government officers and some lower officials including the five heads of departments, got service extensions in the period from January 2022 till date. A majority of them continue to be in service well past their retirement on attaining the age of superannuation.
Parsekar got his first service extension on February 1, 2023 a day after he was to retire on January 31 that year on attaining the age of superannuation. In February last year, the State government accorded him a second year-long extension and this year he got his third extension of service.
The PWD which Parsekar heads as PCE has the highest number of officials who got extensions including three other chief engineers -- Santosh Mapne, Angelina Da Silva and George Pereira.
Three other Superintending Engineers, four Executive Engineers and three Assistant Engineers of the PWD also got extensions in service since 2022.
Another head of a department Jyoti Sardesai also got a one year extension and served as Director of Food and Drugs Administration beyond her superannuation age. She has since retired in June last year.
The most controversial of the many extensions granted to top officials is that of Chief Town Planner Rajesh Naik who otherwise would have retired on superannuation on April 30 last year. However, the government granted him a year's extension on May 1, 2024 which extends up to April 30 this year.
In WRD, apart from its CE Badami, one SE Krishanakant Patil, two EEs Krishanand Naik and Narareth Vaz, and two AEs Abhay Prabhu and Merwyn Caldeira got service extensions.
The Pramod Sawant administration has also granted service extensions to non-technical staff including stenographers and a driver attached to Goa Sadan in Delhi.
Senior Stenographer Succorinha Falcao from the General Administration Department (GAD) at the State Secretariat and Jayanti Dhargalkar from the Department of Geology and Mines are the two stenos featuring in the list of 45 who got service extensions. Both Falcao and Dhargalkar, however, have since retired after serving the period of their extended service.
