Ban on outsourcing staff: Future of 43 JEs, SDOs in Ludhiana hangs in balance

In the absence of a formal extension of their services, they have been working without pay since July.

With the Punjab local bodies department stopping the municipal corporation (MC) from appointing outsourced staff, as many as 43 outsourced junior engineers (JE) and sub-divisional officers (SDO) are on the tenterhooks about their future.

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The term of these officials, working in the bridges and roads (B and R), light and horticulture wings of MC, ended in June. In the absence of a formal extension of their services, they have been working without pay since July.

Some have even stopped reporting for work, leaving MC grappling with acute staff shortage.

Earlier, the local bodies department had also delayed the extension of 20 JEs and SDOs working in the operations and maintenance (O&M) cell. But, it was allowed later.

One of the SDO, requesting anonymity said, “We have received nothing but false assurances that the contracts will be renewed. While MC failed to renew the contracts, the local bodies department has also issued a letter refraining it from outsourcing staff.”

“A lot of outsourced staff are not coming to work due to uncertainty over disbursal of salaries since July. It has become difficult to make ends meet. Worse, MC’s work has also been affected. Even if MC starts development works, there will be no staff to monitor them,” the official said.

Mayor Balkar Sandhu had met local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra in this regard on Thursday and sought that MC be allowed to outsource its manpower and extend the contracts of employees required to continue so as to keep a check on the quality of works underway across the city.

“Mayors from Amritsar, Patiala and Jalandhar were also present in the meeting, where minister Mohindra assured to find a solution soon,” said Sandhu.