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Mira Bhayandar: To overcome the acute shortage of technical staff, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has finally decided to recruit engineers on its payroll as per the staffing pattern approved by the state government in 2019.
The worst affected is the public works department (PWD), followed by the water supply, town planning and the anti-encroachment wing. As against the requirement of 69 engineers, the civic administration is still compelled to operate on the virtue of a decade old staffing pattern with just 32 on its payroll. 28 out of the 36 junior engineers have been recently promoted as sectional and deputy engineers.
The sanctioned post for executive and deputy engineers for various departments is pegged at seven and nine respectively. However, out of the 16 posts eight are lying vacant. Similarly, 2 out of the 18 posts for sectional engineers are unoccupied. The acute staff crunch of technical staff especially junior engineers has started showing its adverse consequences on the performance of the civic administration. A total of filling 67 new posts of technical staff is under consideration.
The MBMC has rolled up its sleeves to initiate the recruitment of 28 junior engineers on its payroll by outsourcing the entrance exams to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). These positions were earlier filled by conducting exams at the departmental levels.
However, the government in an attempt to bring transparency in the recruitment process had appointed the agencies in 2022. Lack of expertise in the MBMC has affected big-ticket projects as labourers have to work at developmental sites without guidance of technical staff especially JE’s who are over-burdened which not only leads to unprecedented delays but also puts a question mark on the quality of work.
As a stop gap arrangement, the MBMC has hired a private manpower supply agency which has recruited 48 junior engineers on a contractual-basis. However, there is a serious question mark on the efficiency of the contractual junior engineers.
