Ghost workers haunt MMC rain works

MARGAO: Ghost workers. That seems to be the latest problem the Margao municipal council (MMC) is beset with. MMC authorities unwittingly realized the presence of ghost workers in its 61-member ‘road gang’ after it decided to deploy the ‘road gang’ for pre-monsoon works that would be undertaken by it shortly.
Sources said that as the tasks allotted to the 61-member road gang were not properly recorded in the logbooks, there was every possibility that the employees were moonlighting during office hours.What led credence to the probability were apprehensions raised in some quarters that the services of these Class IV employees were being misutilized by some ‘powerful’ persons within the civic body to do their personal biddings.
MMC chief officer Naveen S L has constituted a five-member study committee headed by the municipal engineer to identify these ghost workers after ascertaining the tasks allotted to each member of the road gang, sources revealed.
When questioned, Naveen confirmed that a study team has been constituted for the purpose, but declined to divulge more details. A senior MMC official, speaking to TOI on condition of anonymity, said that the team is likely to submit its report to the chief officer by the end of this month. “If any anomalies are detected, appropriate action will be taken, as provided by law,” he said.
“As in the past, councillors have been insistent that the MMC hire daily wage labourers for the pre-monsoon works. But, we didn’t give in to their demand, as we thought it was not financially prudent. Now the presence of ghost workers perhaps explains their demand,” he added, declining to elaborate further for obvious reasons.
Naveen has already constituted a team headed by the municipal engineer that has been tasked with overseeing the work of desilting storm water drains across the town, which constitutes a major part of pre-monsoon works. In a departure from the past practice of hiring daily wage labourers for a two-month period for pre-monsoon works, the MMC, this year, has decided to deploy its own ‘road gang’ members for the purpose.
This move is expected to result in the MMC saving around 50 lakh which would have otherwise gone towards paying the additional workers. Sources said more skeletons may tumble out following the report that would be submitted by the study team.