BMC puts brake on recruitment of clerks over dip in revenue

According to the officials, there are 5,255 posts of clerks, of which a total of 3,221 posts are to be filled.

The BMC has withheld further recruitment on the post of clerks in various department reportedly citing an increase in establishment expenditure and a dip in revenue.

The civic body, which is set to present the annual budget Tuesday, had recently proposed to fill 810 posts of clerks in various departments, while another 874 posts were to be filled through internal promotions. The civic administration, however, withdrew the proposal at last moment from the Standing Committee last week.

According to the officials, there are 5,255 posts of clerks, of which a total of 3,221 posts are to be filled.

“Since there is an increase in establishment expenditure and source of income has been gone down, we want to take back this proposal,” Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijay Singhal reportedly told the Standing Committee.

The civic body has been feeling the pinch after its biggest sources of income – property tax and development charges – witnessed a slide. So far, the BMC has put a brake on new recruitment, except for emergency departments, like hospitals.

While the BMC had set a target of Rs 5,000 crore for property tax in 2019-20 fiscal, it collected Rs 1,387 crore till November 30 last year, which was about Rs 1,500 crore deficit from the target.

The decision to put a hold on recruitment, meanwhile, has been criticised by opposition leader Ravi Raja, “Every year, the civic body spends so much of public money on hiring consultants, then why are they opposing recruitment of new people. There is a huge vacancy of clerks, so new people should be recruited as soon as possible,” Raja said.

Currently, the BMC is spending about 40 per cent of its revenue on establishments. According to sources, while the civic administration decided to cancel the proposal to recruit clerks, following objections from several corporators, Standing Committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav has said the matter will be discussed in its next meeting.