Clouds of uncertainty hang over the jobs of sub-regional officers (sro) of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (mpcb). The threat is from mpcb's recently launched assessment programme, which is supposed to be a motivating exercise.

The sros are responsible for supervising and guiding field officers in matters of surveillance, monitoring and implementation of environmental legislations. D B Boralkar, mpcb member secretary who has initiated the drive, points out in a confidential note: "Many of the existing sros