MCG terminates services of 523 outsourced workers - Hindustan Times
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MCG terminates services of 523 outsourced workers

By, Gurugram
Sep 29, 2020 11:52 PM IST

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), in the last four days, terminated the services of 523 outsourced workers — a majority of whom included workers deputed at the water boosting stations in the city, said officials on Monday, adding that their termination might negatively affect the water supply in the city.

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The civic body terminated the services of 59 outsourced workers last Friday, followed by the termination of the services of 464 additional workers on Sunday — the highest in a single day since MCG was formed in 2008.

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These workers included 177 security guards deputed at water boosting stations, along with 45 water boosting operators and 38 water boosting assistants.

MCG officials privy to the matter said that the termination of the workers, especially the boosting operators and the assistants, have left them extremely short in manpower. This could affect the water supply in the city, especially in summer of 2021, if the situation does not change by then.

“The sacking of boosting operators and assistants has left us short of manpower. Given the existing staff strength, a single pump operator or assistant will now have to cover 6-7 boosting stations in one area. The lack of constant supervision and expertise will also affect services in the boosting stations, especially during the summer season. We are trying to figure out the best way possible to deal with the situation,” said a senior MCG official in the water supply division of MCG, seeking anonymity.

The official further highlighted the importance of boosting operators and assistants in managing boosting stations. “A lot of our machinery is still operated manually. Following a power outage, a lot of machines do not automatically turn on through the help of backup generators. Human intervention is often required. Further, a regular presence in the boosting stations is important for tackling defects, leakages, and regulating the flow of water. Absence of manpower will gravely affect the maintenance operations and result in poor output,” the official further said.

Earlier, in September 2019, a 126-page investigation report was presented by an MCG committee on the hiring of 1,950 outsourced workers during a House meeting. The report had highlighted many shortcomings in the hiring processes of such contractual workers.

RS Rathee, councillor of ward 34 and the head of the MCG committee, said that the report highlighted the fact that the recruitment of many of these outsourced workers was needless.

“Many of the 523 outsourced workers terminated recently had been interviewed by the MCG committee last year. Their shortcomings, such as lack of expertise for the job, hiring against multiple posts, lopsided deployment, needless posts, hiring on recommendations of bureaucrats and politicians, had all been highlighted in our report. MCG officials were alerted about the matter. As such, action against the outsourced workers is being taken periodically,” said Rathee.

MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said that termination of outsourced workers was carried out as their services were found to be “surplus” to the requirement of MCG. “We realised that a lot of workers were hired unnecessarily. The tasks they were carrying out did not need multiple posts. Hence, we have terminated the services of around 500 workers. If at a later stage, we feel that certain departments need additional manpower, we will review the situation, and hire more contractual workers if needed,” said Singh.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Kartik Kumar is a correspondent with the Hindustan Times and has covered beats such as crime, transport, health and consumer courts. Kartik currently covers municipal corporation, Delhi Metro and Rapid Metro.

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