VMC assn protests

VADODARA, Nov 26: Nearly 250 technical officers and employees associated with the Technical Staff Association of the Vadodara Municipal Corp...

VADODARA, Nov 26: Nearly 250 technical officers and employees associated with the Technical Staff Association of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation VMC on Thursday wore black ribbons in protest against the alleged biased attitude of the administration in suspending technical employees.

While alleging that additional assistant engineer civil C C Patel and surveyor in the Land and Estate department Ashok Patel were suspended before show-cause notices were issued to them, association president Chandrakant Shrivastav and vice-president B S Rao threatened to sit on a token hunger fast on Monday. Both the officials were suspended for their role in a demolition operation in Karelibaug area.

8220;Ideally as a course of natural justice, the officers should have been given show-cause notices,8221; they said, adding that as per the provisions of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation BPMC Act, it was under the municipal commissioner8217;s purview to suspend the officers and not the deputy8217;s. They said in case of the officers, the commissioner was the appointing authority.

Alleging that the suspension was not as per norms, the association has demanded that the officers be re-instated with immediate effect. According to them, the suspension is only justified if the officers are involved in some financial irregularity or in any other serious issue. The officers were suspended for allegedly not surveying the land properly, leading to demolition of a construction on private land.

Association general secretary Hasmukh Patel said the technical staff class II and III employees from the VMC8217;s civil, engineering, technical and gas projects would protest without disturbing routine work.

The association has also alleged that the VMC filled the technical posts through advertisement despite the fact that many VMC employees and officers were competent for the higher posts. Pointing out that in case of administrative posts, VMC employees were promoted, he alleged that in the technical wing, a person continued to be at the same position for years together.

Association office-bearers claimed that class I officers of the VMC were also planning to become their members.