Staff crunch plagues NDMC

All the departments of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation ( NDMC) are facing 35 to 50 per cent staff shortage since the trifurcation of municipal body in 2012.

As per the report on the sanctioned posts in each department and the number of employees working placed before the standing committee, NDMC, all the departments are facing staff shortage in all the four groups A,B C and D. The department of environment management and services, which has the primary responsibility of maintaining sanitation in its jurisdiction, has only 16,081 group D

A senior official agreed that though there was staff shortage, it could not fill the posts due to a funds crunch employees working against sanctioned posts of 17,445. Similarly, 409 Group C employees are working against sanctioned posts of 447. In Group B category, the department is facing acute shortage with only 11 officials for 32 sanctioned posts. However, the department is not facing any shortage of officers at the top for three sanctioned group A posts. In the health department, out of total sanctioned posts of 7,199, only 4,878 employees and officers are working.

In group A, out of sanctioned 86 officers only 38 are currently working with the department. In group B, 8,545 officers are working against the sanctioned post of 9,920. Out of 12,716 sanctioned posts in the education department, around 10,500 employees and officers are currently working.

The condition is not different in other departments of the NDMC. All the other departments are facing acute shortage of staff, which is also adversely affecting the delivery of civic services. The leader of the House in NDMC, Vijay Prakash Pandey, said, “The corporation is facing staff shortage due to the lackluster approach of the senior officials. They make amendments in recruitment rules for themselves. But when the matter comes for lower level staff, they refuse to make any changes.”

A senior NDMC official said that it was true that the civic body has a staff crunch, but it cannot fill their posts due to fund crunch. “Despite lesser number of employees, salary payment is a challenging task. The corporation, however, recruits employees on various occasions, but it cannot fill the gap overnight,” said Sanjay Goel, additional commissioner NDMC.