At least 271 BBMP engineers are set to be promoted as the Urban Development Department has approved the creation of new higher-ranked positions.
While the civic body has welcomed the move, saying it was long overdue, the promotions are likely to create a vacuum at the lower rung.
The BBMP, which has 18,035 staff on the payroll, has received the approval to create seven more posts of chief engineer (civil), 10 posts of superintendent engineers (civil), 29 posts of executive engineers (civil), 137 posts of assistant executive engineers and so on. A total of 71 new posts have been created in the BBMP’s electrical section and another three in the revenue section.
The UDD approval is good news for engineers who are due for promotion.
A BBMP engineer said: "For long, the BBMP did not have its own cadre and recruitment (C&R) rules. This led to a lot of confusion as we followed the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act which does not have the post of assistant executive engineer at all. Many officers are overburdened with work, which has affected their overall efficiency."
The promotions are, however, likely to cause a shortage of engineers at ward and zonal offices.
"Unlike the municipal bodies of big cities across the country, the BBMP doesn't have adequate manpower. The promotions will only bring down the number of ward engineers. We will end up with fewer engineers on the ground," said S Amaresh of RTI Study Centre. He wondered whether the promotions would really motivate the officers to serve the people well.
Although the promotion of engineers in government departments is linked to their performance and other parameters, the BBMP is notorious for promoting officers on a whim and demoting honest engineers, all because of heavy political influence.
The civic body also sought approval for creating 5,427 posts as per the BBMP C&R Rules, 2020. The department wrote back, asking it to assess whether it has the internal financial resources to meet the additional expenditure.