Civic Organisations To Face Staff Crunch As Over 10,000 Employees Assigned LS Poll Duties

Several civic organisations might be affected, and civic work completion might lag as over 10,000 civic officials have been assigned election duties in the wake of Lok Sabha Polls (LS).

Senior BMC officers said that this time a huge number of BMC staff have been assigned election work, unlike last time. In the last LS polls, around 2,500 employees were roped into election work.

“Staff from the water treatment plant and ward maintenance wing have also been roped in this time,” stated an official. Another official said civic employees have been assigned to serve as zonal officers (ZO) and block-level officers (BLO) during elections.

In response to inquiries, BMC representatives stated that, compared to other years, a significantly greater number of BMC employees will be working on election day since each booth will be staffed by a single BLO.

In Mumbai, there are approximately 7,500 polling booths. In the past, five booths were managed by one BLO. However, it has been learned that one block-level authority will be assigned to each booth this time. This is among the factors contributing to the much larger number of personnel on duty this year, stated an official who asked to remain anonymous.

The municipal commissioner also directs the civic personnel to report for election duty under official directives.

The BMC will employ more than one lakh people, 40% of whom work in the administrative division. This comes primarily from the solid waste cleanup division. “The majority of our department has gone on election duty, leaving us with sparse strength. Daily administrative tasks may be impacted in addition to crucial services,” a BMC official stated.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Engineers Union’s working president, Sainath Rajdhyaksha, made note of the crucial tasks that will be affected in the event of an emergency and in the absence of sufficient workers.