Nagpur: For the newly appointed Municipal Commissioner Virendra Singh, his maiden journey in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation would not be a smooth one. In fact, the journey would be bumpy one. The local body currently facing more than one problems including poor financial condition, shabby working style of babus, political interference and many more problems galore. But the task is cut out for the IAS officer known as ‘Man of words’ in his first stint as top boss in any local body. He will emerge triumphant by swimming against the tide, it is being hoped.
Protocol not followed:
The day Virendra Singh took charge as Nagpur Municipal Commissioner, the day turned out to be ominous. The tradition is that whenever the new Municipal Commissioner takes charge, there is protocol of a formal meeting the First Citizen to discuss nitty gritty of running the civic body effectively. But since it was his first stint in Nagpur Municipal Corporation, he was unaware of the protocol. His predecessor Ashwin Mudgal had held meeting with Mayor Nanda Jichkar and Standing Committee Chairman Sandeep Jadhav on the very first day of his office.
Surprise visits to various departments:
Soon after taking charge, the new Municipal Commissioner paid a surprise visit to various departments in New Administrative Building and put the babus on notice. He found many shortcomings in the working but did not mince words to correct the wrong. The babus may have taken the surprise visit as ‘routine one.’ It is no secret that most of the work in NMC is done by contract and temporary workers. On the other hand, the regular employees just wait for salary hike, perks, posting at ‘lucrative’ departments and other facilities. 40-50% employees have been deployed at other departments instead of their original departments. This factor will have to be dealt with by the new top NMC boss.
PMC ‘fad’:
It is not that the NMC has no efficient, experienced officials. But they are neither given promotions nor assigned responsibility according to their talent mainly due to not towing line of administration and ruling party. And those promoted and given responsibility fail to prove their mettle. Because of this anomaly, NMC has to spend lakhs of rupees on appointment of PMC (Project Management Consultant) even for smaller, insignificant projects.
GBMs not taken seriously:
The General Body Meeting of NMC is held every month. In the past, several important decisions were taken at the GBMs. But the NMC administration never takes the GBM decisions seriously. The flip-flop has ultimately resulted in the Corporators losing faith on the administration. The decisions are taken at GBMs for development of city and welfare of citizens.
The new Municipal Commissioner Virendra Singh has stressed on social audit of NMC’s land and development projects. The move can reap dividends for Nagpur city in more ways than one.
The problems mentioned are tip of iceberg. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation is hub of all sorts of ills. And for the new top boss, the task is cut out for betterment of NMC and Nagpur city as well.
