Warangal: Staff crunch cripples GWMC

Warangal: The rot in the day-to-day working of the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) is not without reasons. Despite suffering from staff shortage, the State government has failed to start a recruitment process for the posts lying vacant in various departments. With the government turning a blind eye to the malady for several years, more than half of the sanctioned posts, including key posts town planning, engineering, public health, sanitation etc are lying vacant. According to official sources, there are around 650 employees working with the GWMC presently as against the sanctioned posts of more than 1,511.

The acute shortage of technical and non-technical staff is not only hampering the ongoing work, but also has its severe impact on the execution of development projects. As of now, there is no regular additional commissioner post and it's in the hands of an in-charge.

Although the town planning is one of the most important wings in the GWMC, three of the four deputy city planner posts are vacant. The situation is the same with the assistant city planner posts. This apart, town planning officer and town planning building inspector posts are also vacant. The municipal administration, which hiked the number of Divisions in the Greater Warangal from 58 to 66 in 2021, didn't increase the number of posts. The only solace is that increase in the retirement age of the State employees. Otherwise it would have been much worse.

As far as the health wing is concerned, chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr Raja Reddy is overloaded with work as the MHO and urban malaria officer posts are vacant. The civic body needs two more assistant medical health officers. The number of sanitary supervisors presently working is two as against the need of eight. The city needs at least another 10 sanitary inspectors to ease the workload of 13 employees presently working.

"The engineering wing is also in dire straits with too many posts lying vacant. This is a huge blow at a time when the city needs it most to oversee the ongoing works related to Smart City Mission, HRUDAY, AMRUT etc.," a senior GWMC official told The Hans India, on condition of anonymity.

"We are under immense pressure with the Corporators blaming us for delay in work. Everyone in the system knows that the civic body is grappling with the staff crunch. More than half of the posts out of the sanctioned posts are vacant. A lot of municipal officials fear posting in Greater Warangal due to the political pressures," an official said.