Nagpur: No surprise why Nagpurians are furious as their civic grievances are not being resolved and problems have increased manifold. The reason: A whopping 6,269 posts are lying vacant in various departments of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). It simply means the work in the NMC is going ‘Bhagwan Bharose.’
According to a report in local English newspaper, with 6269 posts in different departments lying vacant, the NMC has sought approval from the State Urban Development Department to fill 853, including seven Assistant Municipal Commissioners, 15 Medical Officers, 35 Junior Engineers (civil), 64 Revenue Inspectors and four Garden Inspectors. The recruitment will increase NMC’s monthly expenditure by Rs 3.31 crore. At present, the NMC is spending around Rs 60 crore per month towards the salary and pension of its staff.
The present situation is very grim in NMC as out of 13,193 sanctioned posts, only 6,924 posts are occupied, while 6,269 posts are vacant. Besides this, every month, at least 30 employees from different departments retire, said the report. The existing manpower is overburdened.
The report further said that even the post of Assistant Commissioners is lying vacant. Of the seven Assistant Commissioners, four hold additional charge of different zones and the General Administration Department. With dual charge, the workload of Assistant Commissioners has increased. They are supposed to look after the entire civic amenities in their respective zones, said the report.
Citing an example, the report said Dharampeth Zone’s Assistant Municipal Commissioner Prakash Warade is also handling the additional charge of the General Administration Department. It affects many works of the zones like recovery of property tax, anti-encroachment drives etc.
Similarly, three other Assistant Commissioners, Ganesh Rathod, Kiran Bagde and Ashok Patil, too are holding charge of two zones each. This has increased the workload and so the grievances of citizens have increased manifold.
The Garden Department is the worst affected with just one Garden Inspector. This has led to illegal tree cutting in a big way. The NMC has sought four more posts for this department.
The Hotmix Department too is badly affected. This department plays an important role in ensuring pothole free roads. The department has one Executive Engineer and a Junior Engineer.
According to the report, the NMC’s Traffic Department has only two officials. Lack of staff in this department has failed to start on-street parking at eight places, which could have allowed parking of over 2,000 vehicles, including two-wheelers and four-wheelers.
