Soon, transfer policy of MCDs meant to curb corruption to be done away with

Amid political pressure, the transfer policy of three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs) for engineers, sanitary inspectors and supervisory staff in the sanitation and building departments is soon going to be scrapped off. The 2014 policy, which aims to put a check on corruption and malpractices by the officials, has come as a cropper owing to the nexus between the MCD staff and local mafias.

Officials in the North Corporation say that it is “impossible” to follow the policy owing to the shortage of staff. “The number of sanitary inspectors and junior engineers we have is already short and therefore it is not easy to transfer a sanitary inspector from one zone or another,” said an official. 

With this move, the corruption within the department will only increase in the three Corporations.

Similarly, a JE has to be transferred out of the zone after two years while completion of three years would mean the junior engineer has to be transferred out of the building department. This, officials said, would keep a check on the flourishing nexus of the building mafia with the engineering department staff. “There have been several complaints of the building department staff colluding with the local builders and thus patronizing illegal construction. The transfer policy will ensure that the engineering department staff are rotated from one wing to another,” said a senior official.

The guidelines clearly states that any person against whom an inquiry is pending or who has been punished in a vigilance case will not be posted in the building department. The policy, however, does not stipulate for assistant engineers (AE) in the building department; though they will be transferred out of a zone on completion of three years. “A clear policy is needed for the engineering and sanitation department to regulate the functioning of various wings of the engineering department at all levels and to bring more efficiency and wider experience among the staff,” the proposed policy said. 

Apart from the building department, the policy proposes that a junior engineer can continue for a maximum period of five years in the maintenance department, two years in sanitation department and three years in the projects wing of the Corporation. In the sanitation department, the policy states, the sanitary guides and the assistant sanitary inspectors can be posted in a ward for the maximum period of two years.