No recruitment at city corporations in 8 years

While the two Dhaka city corporations often get flak for delay in development and other works or lacking in implementation of plans, a lot of those criticisms would sound rather harsh when one considers that there have been no new recruitment to the city corporations in over eight years -- since Dhaka City Corporation was split in two in 2011 -- and a large number of posts remain vacant. 

According to officials, 1,101 posts out of 1,858 in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) are vacant, while 684 out of 2,422 approved posts remain unoccupied in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).  

Since the inception of the two city corporations, there had been no  recruitment policy. As per officials, the undivided city corporation used to recruit employees under the 1989 service policy.

DNCC Secretary Rabindra Sree Barua said, “DNCC and DSCC are working  with the manpower they inherited from the undivided Dhaka City  Corporation. It is difficult for us to work with this limited number of  employees.”

The Dhaka South City Corporation Employment Service Rules-2019 -- and its counterpart for DNCC -- were approved in September last year.

“We could not recruit any new manpower as we did not  have a recruitment policy, but the government has passed a policy  recently,” Barua told this newspaper, adding that they have been instructed by the Local Government Division to recruit manpower in accordance with revenue.

About the new service rules, DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokon said they have  some observations about it, and would share those with the ministry  concerned.  

However, he also said that by this time, they will  continue the recruitment process to fill up the posts, following the new  employment rules.

However, the new service rules have caused frustration among officials and employees, as the rules did not increase the number of posts, rather decreased them in many cases, complained officials, preferring not be named.

Wishing anonymity, a DSCC official said, “We can’t provide necessary civic services due to manpower shortage. Our officials and staffers are now holding multiple posts due to the crisis, and as a result cannot focus on ensuring quality service.”

Officials holding additional posts are not getting extra pay accordingly, he lamented.

He also said in the new service rules, the posts of departmental heads are reserved  for deputation. This is against the spirit of strengthening local government, he complained.  

As trained officials are necessary in some posts like garbage management, a city corporation official would be better suited for it than an official on deputation.

There were research officials in city planning section and revenue department, but those posts were eliminated in the new rules, he said.

On the other hand, DNCC started its operations in 2011 with manpower shortage and the issue has continued to hamper its operations. According to the DNCC records, around 58 percent posts are currently vacant.  As per its paper -- updated grade-wise till November last year -- 87 first-class officer posts, 35 second-class officer posts, 576 third-class and 403 fourth-class posts are vacant.  

According to DNCC records, its urban planning section is the worst-affected. Only two employees are working against 12 posts in the department. 

Waste management, another important department at DNCC, has 132 of its 217 posts vacant.

According to officials, the local government ministry created 846 additional posts for the 36 newly-formed wards and 10 zones. These 846 posts are not included in the current 1,858 posts of DNCC. The decision regarding recruitment for the new posts is underway.  

There had been no rules on the recruitment process since the formation of DNCC. As a result, they could not recruit required manpower on permanent basis, an official said. However, DNCC recruited employees in some posts temporarily to run activities, and in some cases, one official is looking after multiple sectors. 

“Our additional chief waste management officer is also taking care of the responsibilities of executive engineer of disposal section. The situation will hopefully be resolved soon as the new recruitment policy has come into effect,” said DNCC’s Chief Waste Management Officer Commodore M Manzur Hossain.