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Chandigarh MC plans manpower audit amid deepening financial crisis
The decision to conduct the audit follows a sharp increase in MC’s annual expenses related to outsourced manpower, and civic body’s inability to pay salaries to its staff amid the cash crunch
Amid an ongoing financial crunch, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) is planning to conduct a comprehensive manpower audit to rationalise its workforce and reduce the annual expenditure. It has consulted the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi, for the task.
The decision to conduct the audit follows a sharp increase in MC’s annual expenses related to outsourced manpower, and civic body’s inability to pay salaries to its staff amid the cash crunch. Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria had also directed MC officials and councillors to focus on improving the corporation’s revenue generation by rationalising its manpower.
In discussion with the IIPA, the MC officials stated that the purpose of the audit is to determine if the staff strength can be optimised, identify the ghost employees as complained about by several city councillors, and conduct a financial check of salaries to detect any irregularities. Though the IIPA has already offered a fee of ₹25 lakh to conduct the audit over a period of six months, the Chandigarh civic body is yet to finalise the contract.
“Due to MC’s increasing outsourced staff strength despite the financial crisis and continuous objections over recruitment of outsourced/contractual staff by governor, mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, and councillors, we plan to conduct a manpower audit. Though the prime motive of the audit is to reduce the MC’s staff strength and identify the ‘unwanted’ posts, the manpower audit will be a significant challenge for the MC, as laying off staff is likely to be a difficult and contentious process”, said the MC officials.
As per figures presented during the MC’s general house meeting on November 23, the total staff strength of the MC rose from 8,587 employees in 2023-24 to 9,748 in 2024-25, marking a sharp increase of 1,161 employees, most of whom were hired on a contractual basis. The sudden rise in numbers caught councillors from all parties off guard, with Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor raising questions: “Who are these employees, and where are they working?”
Governor had questioned MC as to why hundreds of contractual workers had been hired when regular posts were lying vacant and why MC was spending more on contractual staff than on regular employees.
In May 2024, the ongoing fiscal mess forced MC to halt all development works across the city. Such is the crisis that the corporation is even struggling to pay timely salaries to its regular and contractual employees. As per MC’s official figures, it spent a total of ₹493 crore till September 30 this fiscal. While ₹145 crore went towards the salaries of regular staff, the figure was ₹147 crore when it comes to contractual staff. Of the MC’s monthly liabilities of ₹75 crore, around ₹ 42 crore goes for salaries alone.
MC sacked employees aged 60 years and above, halts fresh recruitment
In December 2024, municipal commissioner Amit Kumar had ordered to sack outsourced employees who are aged 60 years and above, with immediate effect. Though MC is yet to compile the figures, the officials said that the orders resulted in sacking of around 100 employees from MC.
Kumar also gradually terminated the services of around 12 sanitary officers, after finding that the officers were just employed for conducting night patrolling and exercise that did not require additional staff.
As per Kumar’s previous orders, hiring or replacing any employees without prior approval from his office has been curtailed. Kumar has also sought a report on fresh hiring in the month of December 2024, to check if any officer recruited any employee despite his orders.
“We are committed to creating revenue sources for MC to ensure that we pay regular salaries to our staff. The actions are being taken to ensure that there is no discrepancy in manpower recruitment and disbursement of salaries. Also, since new recruitments are at halt, action will be taken against any officer found hiring new staff,” said Kumar.
