Staff crunch stares Ludhiana civic body in the face, work hit

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 18

The rot in the day-to-day working of the municipal corporations (MCs), municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state of Punjab is not without reason.

Most civic bodies have been facing acute shortage of technical and non-technical employees, which is not only hampering routing working, but also impacting the execution of development projects.

In a memo (recruitment cell-DSM—2020/188 dated September 28, 2020), the Directorate of Local Government (DLG), Punjab, has intimated the Commissioners of MCs, regional deputy directors, Local Government, Punjab, and the executive officers of the municipal councils and nagar panchayats that as many as 1,415 posts of different technical and non-technical cadres eligible for direct recruitment were vacant in civic bodies.

“Since the written tests for filling 456 out of the 670 posts, conducted in November 2016, had run into trouble and later a stay order was issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, it has been decided by the government to fill only the ‘essential’ direct recruitment quota posts through outsourcing,” says the memo.

The DLG has, however, made it clear that the candidates should fulfil the prescribed educational qualification and there should be no court case, criminal or disciplinary proceedings, pending against them. It has been laid down that retired outstanding employees below the age of 65 could also be recruited and they would be entitled to get their last drawn salary minus the amount of the monthly pension.

As per the list attached of the sanctioned vacant posts attached with the memo in the MC here, 16 posts of assistant corporation engineers, 10 of junior engineers (civil), four of junior engineer civil/O and M, 10 posts of building inspector (technical), six of the draftsmen, one each posts of assistant architect and accountant grade-I, three of assistant town planners, and as many as 70 posts of senior assistant inspectors (total 121 posts) were vacant.

The situation was no better in municipal corporations, municipal councils and nagar panchayats elsewhere in the state, as a total of 566 sanctioned posts of direct recruitment quota of both technical and non-technical cadres were lying vacant.

A senior MC official observed that the government had done well to allow the civic bodies to recruit eligible persons on essential posts through outsourcing and once the vacant technical and non-technical posts were filled, there would be remarkable improvement in the working of the MC.