BMC on a wild ghost chase

MUMBAI, JULY 8: The civic authorities have decided to smoke out the ghosts of about 10,000 workers that have slipped through the cracks o...

MUMBAI, JULY 8: The civic authorities have decided to smoke out the ghosts of about 10,000 workers that have slipped through the cracks of its adminisrtative machinery by halting their monthly payment forthwith. These workers have been pottering around the sites of various civic works 8212; at times for more than three years 8212; without a trace of their existence on the municipal records. But with lakhs of rupees being spent on their services every year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has now decided to terminate this redundancy.

An officer in the General Administrative Department told Express Newsline that the services of these workers, who are hired in temporary posts for six months at a time, have not been renewed officially, at times for years together though they continue to remain on the payroll. This, he explains, is because the proposals for their extension have not been forwarded by the heads of their respective departments and also because the GAD has not bothered to ask for themand thereafter forward them to the civic General Body for approval.

These posts are created every time, say, a new project is undertaken. Such workers, who range from the level of laboureers to engineers, are hired for six months at a time. Once the project is complete, they are then transferred to other departments which require additional staff 8212; after the General Body approves their extension.

However, with their extensions not sanctioned since several years, many of them have been drawing salaries without actually working. In fact, since this section of the workforce has been largely ignored by the civic administration, even officials admit they have few details. They say these workers are a collossal drain on the BMC8217;s expenditure, with about 15 per cent of the 1.4 lakh workforce already redundant.

In fact, former deputy mayor Gopal Shetty had admitted during the tenure of the erstwhile Mayor-in-Council MiC that about 146 staff in his Water Supply Department were in excess. Similarly, MiC memberin charge of Gardens and Markets, Rajesh Sharma, had said that the Deonar abattoir employs 1,400 people while it requires only 500.

The corporation, which spends 75 per cent of its revenue on establishment costs, mainly salaries, can therefore ill-afford their services. In fact, the BMC is keen to ascertain how many of its regular staff are also redundant, officials say.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner in charge of General Administration, S B Patil, told Express Newsline he is still to take a head-count of the excess temporary workers, saying a survey would have to be conducted. Of course, he says, some departments are under-staffed and the excess would be adjusted accordingly.

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However, when Sharma had proposed that the excess staff from the abattoir could be transferred to the Markets Department, where they could collect refuse charges from hawkers, the Shiv Sena union had stalled the move. Hence, given the machinations of the civic machinery, the fate of the 10,000 workers is anybody8217;sguess.