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Municipal employees urge government to scrap GO 279

Tuesday, 11 April 2017 10:58 administrator
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The New Indian Express       11.04.2017 

Municipal employees urge government to scrap GO 279

VIJAYAWADA: Speakers at the roundtable meeting organised by the AP Municipal Employees’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Monday demanded that the State government scrap GO 279, promulgated by the Department of Municipal Administration, and provide salaries for the employees under GO 151.

Addressing the gathering, CITU joint action committee convener K Umamaheswara Rao said that GO No. 279 would eventually lead to displacement of workers.  “The contractors will cut down the manpower and make the limited men to work for saving big bucks.

Also, they will not pay the workers as per the standards. The big corporators will exploit the workers’ capabilities,” Rao said. 

Over 40,000 outsourcing workers are rendering their services in the municipal department. Since last decade, majority of the sanitation workers have played a pivotal role in the cleaning works across the State. No measures were taken by the State government in recruiting and regularising the services of the workers even after the retirement of permanent employees, he alleged.

AITUC State secretary A Ranganayakulu alleged that Telugu Desam government had issued the GO aimed at terminating the services of DWCRA groups in local bodies and handing over the sanitation contracts to Telugu Desam leaders.

 Majority of the municipal workers are hailing from weaker sections and the GO will affect their job security and hit their livelihood. The government  plan to privatise the services of the local bodies has put the municipal workers at risk, he said.

INTUC State leader Venkata Subbaiah came down heavily on the Telugu Desam government for its inefficiency in providing facilities to the employees, such as salary payment through GO 010, regularisation and implementation of Pay Revision Commission.

 

Local bodies told to better Plan implementation

Tuesday, 11 April 2017 00:00 administrator
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The Hindu       12.04.2017  

Local bodies told to better Plan implementation

Haritha Keralam Mission vice chairperson T.N. Seema speaking at the District Planning Council in Pathanamthitta on Monday.  

Lack of coordination among departments a hindrance

Local self-government institutions should take necessary steps to finetune implementation of various annual Plan projects in the second phase of the People’s Planning Programme, Haritha Keralam Mission vice chairperson T.N. Seema has said.

Dr. Seema was addressing the District Planning Council here on Monday.

She said the first phase of the People’s Planning Programme launched 20 years ago could succeed in making the common people aware that planning the annual Plan was their right, besides ensuring their effective participation in the planning process.

However, it was high time that execution part was given importance to make the second part of the programme a success, she said.

Development issues

Though the State could make tremendous achievements through the decentralised planning process, more stress should be given for enabling the local self-government authorities and staff to tide over the challenges posed to the State’s development, she said.

Dr. Seema said lack of coordination among various departments were often found to have been posing problems to the People’s Planning programme.

Pathanamthitta district panchayat president Annapoornadevi presided over the function.

P.V. Kamalasanan Nair, District Planning Officer; N. Rajeev, permanent member of the council; district planning council members Sam Eapen, N.G. Surendran, Binilal, P.V. Varghese, R.B. Rajeevkumar, and B. Sathikumari; Mohanraj Jacob, grama panchayat association president; and M.K. Vasu from KILA addressed the meeting.

 

Staff shortage hits urban local bodies hard

Saturday, 08 April 2017 00:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express      08.04.2017

Staff shortage hits urban local bodies hard

BENGALURU: The functioning of urban local bodies (ULBs) across the State, barring Bengaluru, is crippled due to an acute shortage of manpower at various levels. However, a major move to go in for computerisation of all citizen-related services is under way.

Out of the sanctioned strength of nearly 10,000 staff in the top management level (A grade), middle level office staff (B grade), and clerical grade (C), only around 5,000 personnel are on the rolls presently, says V Ponnuraj, Managing Director, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure and Finance Development Corporation (KUIDFC). 

Sufficient personnel are available only in the Group D category. While the position in South Karnataka is comparatively better, the vacancy rate in North Karnataka is as high as 60 per cent with certain pockets having up to 70 per cent vacancies, he said. “This has crippled our functioning,” Ponnuraj said.  

“The recruitment process is under way with 2,000 candidates set to join the ULBs in the next six months. An additional 1,000 jobs are set to be outsourced. So, a year down the line, we will be in a comfortable position,” he said. 

“We are in the firefighting mode now. To manage the crucial technical level posts, the Chief Minister has okayed the temporary recruitment of retired officers,” the KUIFDC MD said. “Project management consultants help out and agencies provide some kind of manpower,” he added.

While the front-end operations of citizen-related processes are computerised, it is still paper documents that are largely supplied for all practical purposes. “By using Enterprise Resource Planning methods, we have embarked on the process of computerising everything, what can be termed as Process Reengineering,” Ponnuraj said.

 This will help public who want to obtain a Katha certificate, building plan sanction or any kind of government-related approvals. 

Presently, even if documents given by the same department is required, the individual has to furnish a physical copy.  “If it can be accessed online, it will be easier for all,” he said.

Tracking of all projects online is in the pipeline. “This will ensure 100 per cent transparency. An applicant can track on real-time basis the movement of files from one section to another. It will also help us identify the particular desk where any delay is taking place,” Ponnuraj concluded.

 
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