A year on, Noida yet to hire engineers, hit by shortage

The Noida authority, which has the responsibility of providing civic amenities to the city’s residents, is facing acute shortage of engineers and other staff members as its old employees are retiring every month, but new appointments are not being made.

The Noida authority, which has the responsibility of providing civic amenities to the city’s residents, is facing acute shortage of engineers and other staff members as its old employees are retiring every month, but new appointments are not being made. By the end of this year, a total of 102 employees of the Noida authority, including engineers and other staff members, are scheduled to retire.

As many as 45 posts of engineers, three of chief engineers and four of general managers are vacant. (HT Photo)

Among the positions lying vacant are 45 posts of engineers, three posts of chief engineers and four posts of general managers. These posts have been lying vacant for almost a year now, affecting normal functioning of the civic body.

“Smooth functioning gets affected and it also impacts residents because their complaints are not properly addressed in many cases,” said an authority officer.

In August 2015, the authority had started the process of recruiting 260 staff members including engineers, but the plan hit a legal roadblock.

“The recruitment process had to be stopped midway due to a case filed in the Allahabad high court. We do not know when it will be settled,” said Arun Vir Singh, additional chief executive officer (ACEO) of the Noida authority.

In March this year, the authority had written to the Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow demanding 25 junior engineers on an immediate basis from other state government agencies like the public works department (PWD), Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, UP State Bridge Corporation and the irrigation department.

“But we are yet to get junior engineers from these five departments. We had sought five junior engineers from each government agency. Due to shortage of staff we have to hire private agencies for works related to different projects,” said Hom Singh Yadav, chief engineer of Noida authority.

At present, 45 of the 104 posts in electrical and civil departments are lying vacant. In addition, out of 22 posts of project engineers in 11 circles of Noida, eight are lying vacant. All five posts of senior project engineers too are unoccupied.