‘Garib’ keeps AMC staff busy

A senior health official in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC)  who has been assigned the duty of collecting food samples from across the city to keep a check on quality of food, is doing all but his designated job these days. Call him to ask about health conditions and the standard reply would be I'm busy. When asked with what: 'counting number of spectacles'!

No, his job profile hasn't changed, but the duty to prepare list of children who needs to be distributed these spectacles during upcoming chief minister Narendra Modi's initiative — Garib Kalyan Mela in Ahmedabad — is the main reason.

This is not the only instance in the civic body which is working beyond duty hours. Around 500 officials from the civic body are assigned work to make state government's Garib Kanlyan Mela - on February 16 and February 20 - a successful affair in Ahmedabad.

The AMC officials who usually leave office in evening are seen burning midnight oil to calculate, distribute to appropriate location, manage items and preparing list of beneficiaries of the mela.
The officials who were happy at the thought of getting some respite from their routine work were soon deprived of the initially fizz as they now seem fed up working 18 hours a day on a trot — for work that is not part of their duty as AMC employees.

"It takes a toll on our health - working rigorously for work together in making list of beneficiaries in the Garib Kalyan Mela, collect items that needs to be distributed, making arrangements for state government's function - all at a time when we have hundreds of other issues to deal with at the city level. The point here is - till the time the Garib Kalyan Mela is over we will not be able to address civic problems," said an AMC official.

However, there is a section of 'yes man' officials who believe that there is no harm in doing work for the state government as they pay them salary. "What is the harm if we have to work for state government's function? Do not they pay us our hefty salary?" argued one of such AMC bosses.

Buzz in the AMC says, the worst affected department would be health and revenue. The revenue department which is already struggling to meet target in tax collection will have to sacrifice dozens of officials to Garib Kalyan Mela making things difficult for tax department bosses.

However, leader of opposition in the AMC, Surendra Baxi who isn't in favour of the AMC officials working for the government function stating it as a shame that these officials are having to work at the cost of serving denizens.

"Sometimes officials also do not want to manage things for the state government's functions but they fear to refute additional work on them. I strictly oppose AMC official's duty in state government's function because it plays hindrance in denizens' work. AMC officials' prime duty is to serve tax paying citizens and not chief minister of Gujarat," he said.