Tamil Nadu civic bodies facing staff crunch to execute projects
CHENNAI: Even as the municipal administration department is looking at improving underground drainage, drinking water supply and solid waste management this year, there are concerns about whether it has enough staff on the ground to oversee the implementation of these projects. Newly formed corporations are reeling under staff crunch, especially field staff who are instrumental in ensuring that the projects are implemented as per specifications.
Three years after Avadi became a corporation, it still has a total of around 100 km of earthen roads yet to be converted to all-weather roads (bitumen, concrete or paver blocks), according to official sources. A large part of the corporation area lacks an underground drainage system while a DPR is still underway for a Rs 411-crore UGD system and recently, Rs 30 crore was sanctioned for stormwater drains.
“There is plenty of work left to do. We have people with varied and rich experiences at the official level like the commissioner, chief and superintending engineers but we have no technical assistants and assistant engineers who we are dependent on to work on the ground,” a top Avadi corporation official said. In Tambaram, a field staff said that on many days, they come to work at 6 am and leave at 9 pm.
“We don’t even ask for leave because we know it will not be sanctioned,” an official said. The corporation is now making do with one sanitary inspector per zone against the sanctioned strength of five. In total, the corporation has only two assistant executive engineers -- one for Pallavaram and another for Tambaram.
“We are unable to address public complaints due to manpower shortage. The existing staff are all overworked, and it affects overall productivity,” a top Tambaram corporation official said.
Even with the limited manpower, the municipal administration department is keen on prioritising two big-ticket projects this year. The department has set the ball moving for the 24x7 water supply system that was announced by Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru in the Assembly in March. The department has identified 79 town panchayats to pilot the project along with one ward in each of the 12 corporations. The areas identified are those with reliable water supply sources in place.
“Studies have shown that 24x7 water supply will reduce wastage to a large extent. People won’t store water they won’t need in anticipation of future requirements. This is being implemented in places like Delhi and Odisha and we are learning from them too,” said a department official.
Next on the department’s agenda is the implementation of the ‘all-in-one’ unique QR code system for each household. According to sources, each house is to get a unique username and password and will be stuck with the house’s QR code. Scanning the code would help residents register complaints on issues relating to electricity, and water supply, and also used for tax payments.
“As regards complaints, the staff have to scan the code for the particular house to close the complaint so there is no option for them to close complaints sitting in their office or somewhere else. They will have to visit the house,” an official said. The code will also be found in public utility spaces to receive feedback, if everything goes as per plan. For its first phase, the code is to be made available in 35,000 households in the next few months.
On the other hand, the department has drawn flak for not being transparent in its corruption probes. The PWC Davidar Committee was formed to look into corruption in smart city projects. The panel submitted its report in August 2022. However, its contents have not been made public yet.
“Except Chennai, there is no transparency in tender processes in other corporations. In Tiruchy, for instance, there is no way of knowing who the tenders have been awarded to and who participated,” said Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam.
Under the Prevention of Corruption Act, investigating agencies are to be permitted by the department heads for initiating an inquiry. “Even in corruption cases against the previous government, there is a delay in the permission given to agencies to probe the case,” he added.