The Indian Express   30.07.2012

While the slowdown has hit most sectors hard, the civic terrain is
gearing up for a major recruitment drive — a development that should
soothe the nerves of the jobless youth. As many as 1,500 vacancies are
up for grabs at the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations and
the civic bodies have decided to up the tempo of the recruitment drive.

The PMC has decided to fill up the posts of peons and labourers,
which were advertised in February. Mountains of application forms,
neatly packed, have been gathering dust for months at Savarkar Bhawan
with civic officials unable to sort them out. Deputy Municipal
Commissioner K C Karkar said the PMC was flooded with applicants seeking
jobs. “Because of other exigencies, we could not sort out the
application forms. Now, we have decided to resolve the matter,” he said.
For the 25 posts of peons, PMC received 15,000 applications and for 50
post of labourers, it received as many as 20,000.

In next two-three months, Karkar said they have decided to fill
up 1,186 posts. “I know the task would be difficult. This is because of
the rigorous process in place and the enormous response civic jobs
generate. We hope to fill up at least close to 1,000 vacancies in the
next two-three months. The rest will be filled in up the next few
months,” he said.

From April 1 to June 30, the PMC filled up 214 posts. Some of the
posts that remain include radiologists, assistant health chiefs,
residency surgeons, medical officers and junior engineers. The PMC also
has two vacant posts of deputy municipal commissioners. Interviews for
41 junior engineers post have been scheduled for this week, civic
officials said. Over 100 medical officers have been recruited. Over 300
posts fall vacant every year in the PMC, mainly due to employees
retiring.

Similarly, in Pimpri-Chinchwad 200 posts will be filled up in the
next three-four months. Joint Municipal Commissioner Amrut Sawant said
they were filling up posts of nurses, generator operators, ayahs, ward
boys and clerks. “We always get an overwhelming response,” he said. PCMC
is filling up 60 clerical posts — for which it receives over 25,000
applications, officials said.

PMPML, the city’s transport service, is also gearing up to fill
up 1,800 posts in the next two months. “We will recruit 1,600 conductors
and 200 cleaners,” said PMPML spokesperson Deepak Pardeshi.

Civic posts have often generated controversy with allegations of
corruption. The going rate for various posts ranges from Rs 5 lakh to Rs
20 lakh. Demanding transparency in recruitment, Congress leader Aba
Bagul said, “The civic general body has the powers only to discuss Class
I posts. The fate of other three classes is exclusively in the hands of
the administration. The state government should allow the elected
representatives to have a say in the recruitment process for all posts,
which will ensure complete transparency.”

Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe said, “The administration should
take the House leaders into confidence before filling up posts. There
has to be an effective coordination and dialogue between leaders and the
administration to choose the right candidates.”

However, PMC said their recruitment procedure was transparent. “I
don’t think anybody has made any allegations against our recruitment
process. Those who don’t get jobs do make a noise, but their frustration
can be understood. Our recruitment is highly transparent,” said Karkar..