The Municipal Corporation Phagwara (MCP) has been facing an acute staff shortage as only one junior engineer (JE) is taking care of entire field work in areas falling under the city limits.
The civic body was upgraded from municipal council to municipal corporation in 2011.
It has been learnt that only one junior engineer (JE) is working under the three executive engineers and two sub-divisional officers (SDOs) in the municipal corporation.
The MC also has only one superintending engineer to handle the operation and maintenance (O&M) and building and roads (B&R) departments.
As per the norms, there should be two to three SDOs under one executive engineer and each SDO should have three JEs for proper maintenance of the city.
Junior engineer Jalandhar Singh said he had recently joined and it was difficult for him to do the job.
“As a JE’s job mostly involves field work, I have to visit spot for inspecting roads, patchworks and buildings,” he said.
Singh said he also had to make estimates for new works besides checking illegal digging on carpeted roads.
“We need at least seven more JEs for proper maintenance of the city,” he said.
Singh said he also had to make estimates for new works besides checking illegal digging on carpeted roads.
“We need at least seven more JEs for proper maintenance of the city,” he said.
Meanwhile, the MC is also facing shortage of supervisors, clerks and class-IV employees.
The civic body does not have a single supervisor and has only 20 clerks for handling the entire clerical work.
Officials said there should be 20 more clerks and at least two supervisors to handle the work.
MC commissioner SP Singh Mrar admitted that the civic body still faced an acute shortage of staff.
“The state government has started appointing new staff and all vacant posts will be filled soon,” Mrar said.