JOIN USThe East Corporation’s tall claims of monsoon preparedness fall flat as the shortage of sanitary inspectors hinders the process of cleaning of drains in areas under its limits. Officials say the posts of sanitary employees have been lying vacant in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation since it has come into being in 2012.
In total the civic agency has 64 wards and each ward must have one sanitary inspectors. But there are many wards which do not such officials.
A sanitary inspector supervises the cleaning of gully gratings, drains, roads and looks after the preparations for monsoon season. Every ward should also have an assistant sanitary inspector, but many wards do not even have these officials. The East Corporation has two zones – Shahdara (North) and Shahdara (South).
The civic agency said there are 35 sanctioned posts for sanitation inspectors but there are only 31 sanitation inspectors being deployed in Shahdara (North) Zone. While there are 93 sanctioned posts for assistant sanitation inspectors, only 61 such officials have been recruited so far.
Akbar Ali, Sanitation Superintendent of Shahdara (North) Zone said that the civic agency has always faced the shortage of sanitation employess. “The condition has not changed since the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated in 2012 to make way for the formation of East Corporation,” said Ali.
Asked who monitors the sanitation work in the absence of such officials, a senior official said, “The sanitation inspectors of other wards look after the preparation of monsoon in the wards where there is no such official. But the quality of the work suffers.”
The civic agency said there are 33 sanctioned posts for sanitation inspectors but only 28 sanitation inspectors are deployed in Shahdara (South) Zone. While there are 88 sanctioned posts for assistant sanitation inspectors, only 70 officials have been recruited so far.
R L Parcha, Sanitation Superintendent of Shahdara (South) Zone said the posts have been lying vacant since 2013.