Staff shortage reason for delay in road work: Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike

BENGALURU: Even as the bad road situation was being discussed in the winter session of the Legislature and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had to defend the work of the government, officials at the city corporation found yet another excuse to delay the work, blaming it on shortage of staff. 

According to BBMP officials, there is a 40-50 per cent staff crunch, which is why several projects are delayed. While experts and NGOs, who work with the BBMP, accept there is a staff crunch, they also question why staffers are not being hired on deputation to manage the requirement. They point out that many engineers and officials are awaiting postings, which can be filled to meet deadlines, especially for road work, lake and garbage management. 

According to BBMP officials: “One engineer is managing four lakes or 3-4 wards. One health officer is managing 4-5 wards. One KAS or IAS officer is managing more than three posts and has to attend all the meetings called by government officials. With all these meeting deadlines, visiting all spots and undertaking new projects has become a challenge.”

Experts admit that capacity-building is a challenge for the present cadre. “Just like there are all-India civil services, we need to have a municipal cadre, where officials are given specialised training. To meet shortage, transfers are done, without understanding the expertise and skills they have,”  said Srinivas Alivilli, head, civic participation, Janaagraha.