19 October,2024 08:20 AM IST | Mumbai | Prajakta Kasale
BMC had on October 7 announced action against illegal hawkers
It's not just BMC's pollution control measures that have taken a hit due to manpower being diverted to election duties, but so have civic chief Bhushan Gagrani's plans for action against unauthorised hawkers, footpath encroachment and misuse of parking spaces, along with a slew of other duties. He had instructed civic officials to take on these tasks on a war footing on October 7.
The civic body will deploy approximately 42,000 of its 90,000 employees for the upcoming assembly elections. The Corporation has already posted 12,000 employees on pre-election works, and others will be deployed in phases.
Pollution control measures have already been impacted by the staff crunch. Plans to sprinkle water on city roads by October 1 with the help of 106 water tankers, has now been postponed by a month and will start on November 1, as per officials in the transport section of the Solid Waste Management department. All other plans apart from regular and essential works like water supply, solid waste management, health services will get affected at least for a month-and-a-half.
"Most personnel deployed for election duties are from ward offices, where all these civic tasks are done. Our priority now will be to ensure essential duties remain unaffected. The other plans can only can be done with full manpower after the staff resume duty following the election results," said an official.
