Arvind Sharma, Jammu Tawi, Aug 14: The sanitation of the upcoming Smart City, Jammu, is not only being managed in an adhoc manner but is also dominated by this non-serious system since the last six (6) to seven (7) years due to failure of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) to come up with a policy to get rid of this system which hampers both functioning and performance.
The number of temporary civic workers in all the seventy five (75) wards of Jammu falling within the limits of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) is more than three (3) times the number of permanent employees under this category, official sources informed the Northlines.
Out of the total 2678 civic workers working for Jammu’s sanitation, there are 1892 employees who fall in different categories of temporary employees.
As per the official figures accessed by the Northlines, there are a mere 785 permanent civic workers, while the number of temporary employees is 1892.
As per the category wise details, there are 785 permanent safaikaramcharis, 515 casual workers and the number of civic workers engaged by the corporation through NGOs is 1377.
The civic workers are engaged by the JMC through NGOs as per the requirement and subject to the availability of budget, official sources said.
They are paid Rs 200 per day.
Pertinently, the number of permanent employees has come down in the corporation as compared to last year, while the number of temporary employees has further increased this year as compared to last year.
As per the official figures, the permanent civic workers in the JMC were 810 last year but the number came down to 785 this year.
In sharp contrast, the number of temporary civic workers in the corporation increased this year. Last year in 2020, there were 1813 temporary employees in different categories in the corporation but this year this number shot up to 1892.
Sources said that services of civic workers are required in different works to maintain sanitation.
“The main problem which we face in maintaining sanitation is that the permanent civic workers often skip their duties and instead get their job done by the temporary employees by paying them meagre money on a monthly basis,” sources said.
“We can fix accountability on permanent employees and not on the temporary ones,” they said adding, “this mixture of different categories always hampers the working”.
They also said, “Taking into account the category of all civic workers, we will face a huge shortage of safaikaramcharis to maintain sanitation of Jammu and the situation cannot alter if serious approach on the matter and efforts are taken in near future”.
