Suspension of senior MCG officials hits daily operations, developmental works

The suspension and temporary withdrawal of charges from senior officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), the city’s primary civic agency, has started

The suspension and temporary withdrawal of charges from senior officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), the city’s primary civic agency, has started affecting its daily operations and developmental projects in the city over the last month.

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Approvals for localised civic projects, the sanction of funds under Rs 50 lakh and multiple enforcement measures have all taken a hit due to officials holding multiple charges. On Tuesday, the demolition of six shops in Nathupur was just the first demolition drive the MCG has carried out in more than a month.

At least four of the 10 executive engineers (XENs) in the MCG are suspended for issues such as discrepancies in the issuance of tenders for GPS-enabled smartwatches, missing key MCG meetings and for irregularities in the issuance of work satisfactory certificates on the behalf of councillors.

In the smartwatches matter, tenders were not allocated as per norms to the final contractor, while at least 12 work satisfactory certificates, based on which MCG disperses funds to its contractors, allegedly had forged signatures of councillors. Further, a XEN of the horticulture wing had missed a key MCG meeting earlier this month without any clear reason, leading to his suspension.

Of the remaining six XENs, one XEN, responsible for civil engineering, is due to retire by the end of this month, which will leave MCG with half its strength of XENs.

Besides the XENs, a large number of junior engineers and assistant engineers are also under suspension for various discrepancies, including constructions in the 900-metre restricted area of IAF depot. A subdivisional officer (SDO) was also suspended in the work satisfactory certificate matter.

The charge of MCG’s city project officer has also been withdrawn for negligence in the MCG’s street vending zone project.

Due to the staff crisis, officials are holding multiple charges, public dealings have reduced, and there is a lack of clarity regarding the official responsible for approving or sanctioning civic matters.

“Nearly every senior MCG official working full-time is having to hold dual or more charges. With time and attention divided into multiple aspects, the MCG’s output is getting seriously hit. MCG contractors are not receiving money on time, thereby, delaying developmental projects, while public redressal is either not being executed or being done after a long delay. The MCG has never been in such a staff crisis before,” said a senior MCG official privy to the matter.

To make matters worse, the position of senior town planner (STP) one of the two main positions in the MCG’s planning branch, besides chief town planner (CTP), has also been lying vacant for nearly three months, after the previous STP was transferred to the town and country planning (TCP) department.

“If officials are disobeying norms and rules, and are also guilty of violations or negligence, action had to be taken by the mayor or the MCG commissioner accordingly. While we understand that this has led to a few officials being overburdened and also resulted in work being delayed, our bigger objective is for the MCG to work in a transparent and corruption-free manner,” said Madhu Azad, mayor, MCG.

Azad also highlighted that the XEN of the horticulture wing, who had missed a key MCG meeting earlier this month, will resume his charge from next month onwards, after serving his suspension.