AHMEDABAD: Amdavadis pay the sixth highest per capita property tax in India at Rs 1,565, but the AMC records a more stunning statistic in its service of Amdavadis - the corporation deploys only four employees per 1,000 population. In contrast, Panaji's municipal corporation, the world's smallest, has assigned 19 employees per 1,000 citizens.
A recent Union ministry of urban development's presentation had compared 37 major municipal corporations on various parameters. On civic employees per 1,000 population, the ministry's data shows that Mumbai and Kolkata have eight staffers. The report puts Delhi behind Ahmedabad: the national capital has three employees per 1,000 population. Corporations that fare even worse are those of Kochi, Vijayawada, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, and Bhopal with two employees.
As for Ahmedabad, about 23,433 employees tend to a population of 64 lakh. Of these employees, 17,374 are sanitation workers and a small percentage of them are peons. The employee pool includes those hired on contract. "Frankly, only 6,089 municipal staffers in Ahmedabad are the front-end personnel at zonal offices," said a senior AMC official.
‘Civic body staff need to be periodically trained’
Lack of autonomy curtails municipal capacity, especially in recruitment. Although the AMC can carry out the recruitment process, the state government’s sanction is needed to hire people,” said a senior AMC official. Vatsal Patel, the president of the Gujarat Institute of Civil Engineers & Architects and a former city planner, said: “I don’t believe that recruiting more employees will improve services. The quality of human resources is what matters for municipal service delivery. ” Patel, added: “Municipal employees should be professional and must focus on the quality of service.
They should be periodically trained. Measures must be taken to keep them motivated. ”Patel went on to say: “A service review should be conducted every 15 years and those who have been unable to perform must be compulsorily retired. ” Union ministry of urban development’s June 17 presentation also underscored inconsistent municipal budgets across cities and the lack of human resources. In the case of 11 cities, their own sources of revenue constitute less than 50% of the total. City authorities lack the capacity to carry out functions as they do not have adequate staff with the necessary qualifications and skills.
