MARGAO
Why does filling up of vacant posts gets lapsed in the Margao municipality is a question doing the rounds. Is it because of lethargy on the part of the civic officials or is it simply that the MMC is not keen on recruiting new staff given the hefty salary bill of the existing employees?
If around 116 posts had lapsed in the recent past, another 10 posts lapsed in the last few days, with the Powers that be blaming the municipal administration section for not intimating the higher officials that the posts would lapse if not filled on priority.
Sources in the know informed that the posts of three drivers, one supervisor, five workers and a gardener has lapsed recently, taking the number of lapsed posts in recent times to 126.
Even as the municipal higher officials and the ruling councillors sought to blame the Administration section for the lapse, questions are doing the rounds about whether MMC has conducted an audit of the staff required to run the civic body.
For, the MMC has a huge army of employees whose monthly salary bill has been pegged at whopping over Rs two crore. Questions are often raised at the council meetings whether the municipality really requires a huge workforce when activities such as door-to-door garbage collection have been outsourced at a huge cost of Rs 5-odd crore.
Complaints by city fathers are galore that the civic body has not put in place a mechanism to ensure optimum output from the staff.
A city father pointed out that the civic chief has been complaining of a resource crunch to pay the monthly salary and wage bills. “Just imagine what would have been the fate of the municipal treasury if the MMC had to fill up all the 126 posts that lapsed in the last two years,” remarked an official.
He added: “It is high time the civic body conduct an audit of the employees and ascertain the manpower requirements instead of filling up the sanctioned posts.”
