Union-wary govt ignores flab

KOLKATA: A staggering 333 people in every department of the West Bengal government, on an average, just carry files, fetch drinking water and occasionally tea and coffee!
According to a survey conducted by the state government, about 25 per cent of the employees in every department are excess as they have hardly any work to do. Almost all of them belong to the lower most levels of group D and group C.
But under pressure from the unions, the government has coined a politically correct term to describe these employees.
The survey has suggested calling them ‘redeployable’ employees, who will form a pool from which their services will be asked for as and when any department requires them.
While the government is desperate to shed flab off its administrative structure, the job will not be easy as most of these group D employees are not only members of the CPM-backed Coordination Committee, but also active party workers in many cases.
The survey revealed that about 18,000 group D and 17,000 group C employees were manning a total of 54 departments. Though 25 departments are yet to submit details about their exact staff strength and its justification, the overall estimate pointed out that 25 per cent of the staff was redundant.
The report also mentioned that the majority of these employees were appointed in "a haste" without evaluating the need and in many cases the appointments were not required.
"Appointments were without rationalisation, making the structure bottom-heavy. Maximum irrational intakes were at the lower most levels of group D and group C because of political compulsions," said a senior departmental official.
"After evaluating 29 departments, we found that about 4,000 employees were absolutely extra even after having a very relaxed margin and a flexible set of criteria," informed another official. "Now we see that there will be no requirement for appointments in the near future," observed a senior employee. With computerisation and digital filing on the cards, many more employees will lose their utility.
At the top levels of group A and B though, there was need for more people, the report observed. The Co-ordination Committee declared that it would oppose the move. "We will oppose anything which is against the interest of the employees," said committee secretary Smarajit Roychoudhury.