Amid staff shortage, MCD to outsource upkeep of parks

A senior municipal official said that currently gardeners are being hired under a piecemeal approach for short periods of time which needs repeated sanctions.

With more than two-thirds of the gardeners post lying vacant and acute manpower crunch across various levels, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to hire a private agency to supply outsourced manpower to manage Delhi’s parks, gardens, and other green spaces for a period of two years. According to the department estimates, the project is likely to cost around ₹143 crore. A proposal in this regard has been moved by the municipal commissioner to the house of councillors.

The civic body maintains 15,226 parks. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

A senior municipal official said that currently gardeners are being hired under a piecemeal approach for short periods of time which needs repeated sanctions. “The existing contract has also expired in August and repeated sanctions/approvals are needed for short term contracts for smaller clusters which impacts the maintenance. The hiring of the agency for 24 months will streamline the process for deploying manpower for all the zones and avoid the repeated disruptions.”

“The department is also in process of outsourcing the maintenance of larger parks (bigger than three acres),” the official explained.

The civic body maintains 15,226 parks, spread over an area of over 5,172 acres. Around 90% of these parks are categorised as ‘housing area parks’ which cater to residential neighbourhoods. The civic body also runs a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme with Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) under which monetary support is provided for the upkeep of such parks.

Shortages and maintenance impacted

According to the MCD data, there are 6,433 sanctioned posts of gardeners for maintaining municipal parks but currently only 2,070 people are working in these posts, meaning that 67.8% percent positions are lying vacant. Furthermore, there are 98 vehicles available for park-related tasks, such as tree ambulances, water tankers, tractors and tippers, but only 26 drivers are available to run them and all three posts of technical assistants are vacant.

Over the last two years, the corporation has hired contractual gardeners on smaller scale in clusters for short periods of five months in February 2024, August 2024 and March 2024, triggering maintenance problems during the intervening periods.

The civic body, in its proposal, has admitted that the shortage is having a crippling effect. “Shortage of gardeners has resulted into poor maintenance of parks and this situation is assuming alarming levels drawing criticism from all quarters. Maintenance of greenery cannot be achieved without deployment.....The vacancies are increasing due to deaths and retirements since recruitment is currently now possible,” according to the policy proposal.

Similarly, the horticulture wing needs 72 drivers to run its tankers and machinery and three technical assistants for “preparation of technical reports”, assessments and proposals, the document notes.

Atul Goyal, who heads the United Residents Joint Act (URJA) — an apex body of over 2,500 resident welfare associations in Delhi — said the RWAs are no longer willing to take up park maintenance on PPP mode as they are made to run after government officials for getting the annual support fund released.

“The number of parks under DPGD and PPP schemes is very low due to bureaucratic red tapism. The parks under MCD are very poorly maintained. MCD should go for private hiring and outsourcing to meet its massive shortfalls but there should be clear clauses on monitoring and oversight. The contact numbers of deployed private staff and grievance mechanisms should be made public otherwise these workers would also be diverted for other jobs,” Goyal said, adding that local RWAs should be included to certify the work being done.

Officials said that the workers will be hired on minimum wages for two years for which an expenditure sanction of ₹143 crore has been sought. HT had earlier reported about the outsourcing plan to manage larger parks under the MCD. Under the pilot project, the maintenance of municipal parks in the Karol Bagh zone would be outsourced under Rs.3.6 crore project, civic officials said.

A senior MCD official said the maintenance will entail gardening maintenance, cleaning and sweeping of gardens, pruning, trimming and shaping of shrubs and maintenance of nursery. “Waste management in all zones is already being carried out by the sanitation department through private concessionaires. We are working on outsourcing park maintenance.”

The privatisation of the waste collection in 12 zones has yielded mixed results. While the mechanization of secondary waste collection has increased, the door-to-door collection of waste still remains problematic across the city.