THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Staff shortage might thwart the city corporation’s plans to increase the number of squads checking illegal constructions across its 100 wards. The civic body also has plans to set up an additional night squad after complaints of many illegal constructions were raised at different adalats recently.
At present, the civic body has only one squad to check illegal constructions. “There is no night squad as of now. We hope to form a night squad and also increase the number of squads,” says Palayam Rajan, Town Planning Standing Committee chairperson. He attributes the delay in doing so to the recent elections. “We will set them up soon,” he declares.
An engineering wing official agrees with the mayor, but has doubts on increasing the number of squads unless the corporation creates more posts or employs contract staff. One of his colleagues concurs and adds: “The department is already overloaded. With the current number of staff, setting up more squads and the night shifts would be difficult. It is not practical. The current squad itself is stretched thin with issues that need to be addressed from across the civic body limit.”
A high ranking official of the engineering wing, however, maintains that the expansion of the squad is possible and refutes reports of staff shortage or any issues with regard to the constitution of the squad. “As of now, all the positions in the wing are filled. Personally, I do not feel that staff shortage will be an issue. We can set up the squad soon,” he said.
The lone inspection squad works adhoc. Whenever any illegal construction is reported, a team visits the site, inspects and serves notice to halt construction. The squad visits the site again to check if any further unsanctioned activities had taken place in the interim. The squad also enlists the help of police should the situation demand it. On an average, the current squad visits up to five sites a day depending on the number of reports.