Shortage of staff hits Phagwara MC working
The Municipal Corporation, Phagwara, which has 50 wards, is presently facing the acute shortage of staff, depriving residents, who are regularly paying taxes, of several facilities which are supposed to be provided by the MC in routine.
It was observed that 58 of the 68 sanctioned posts of clerk and officer were lying vacant in the municipal corporation. Phagwara MC Commissioner Navneet Bal, who is ADC (General) also, told The Tribune that the post of Joint Commissioner and Secretary (MC) had been lying vacant, while out of two posts of SE, one was lying vacant.
Besides, four of the five sanctioned posts of assistant engineer, six of the eight posts of junior engineer, four of the five building inspector posts, all four posts of superintendent and two posts of accountant have been lying vacant since long. Moreover, 35 of the 40 sanctioned posts of clerk are also lying vacant for several months.
Moreover, the MC does not have sufficient electricians, so streetlights are not switched on during night in several localities.
Interestingly, the MC Commissioner had written to the Director, Local Bodies, several times and the last request was sent on September 27 last year, but nothing had been done to fill the vacant posts.
Though Punjab Local Bodies Minister Punjab Ravjot Singh during his visit to the MC in October last year had claimed that the Local Bodies Department would soon be fully computerised to facilitate the people, but even after three months people are facing several problems in depositing different taxes online, especially property tax and sewerage bills. It seems the minister’s assurance did not have the desired effect on the Local Bodies Department even after three months.
