Mira-Bhayandar: Stung by instances in which contractual staffers were found involved in anomalies and even crimes, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has decided to mandate police/character verifications of all such staffers working for private contractors and manpower supply agencies hired for developmental projects and other service-related works.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Aniket Manorkar issued a circular on November 28 directing all heads of department, which outsources work to private entities, to ensure that police/character verification reports of all contractual staffers are submitted at the earliest.
Circular sought action taken from report
The circular has also sought an action taken report (ATR) with the list of all contractual staffers within three days. Apart from various instances in which outsourced workers were found to be involved in anomalies, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police had recently arrested a person who is said to be a contractual staffer hired to conduct a survey of eligible beneficiaries in the Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) project in which a fake flat allotment scam was unearthed. There are around 3,500 people working for the MBMC on a contractual basis hired by private contractors and manpower supply agencies. The sanitation department tops with around 2,000 workers, followed by the public transport authority and water supply department with 450 and 300 workers hired by the private contractors respectively.
Apart from the 105 computer operators and junior engineers hired by a manpower supply agency, there are around 200 staffers employed on a contract basis for the tree authority, responsible for maintaining gardens and playgrounds in the twin city. “The move is aimed to ensure that none of the staffers employed by the contractual companies have a criminal background. Police verifications will soon be mandated for contractors too. Contracts will not be awarded to those with criminal backgrounds.” said a senior municipal officer.
Previous Cases
- Six contractual workers were caught red-handed while indulging in a binge session inside an ambulance used to ferry patients.
- A 27-year-old bouncer (private security guard) was arrested for sexually assaulting a 20-year-old married woman who was placed under quarantine in a Covid care centre in Bhayandar (east).
- Another 42-year-old bouncer hired by a private manpower agency to accompany anti-encroachment drives landed into the custody of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for taking ₹15,000 bribe from a hawker.
