RAWALPINDI, March 5: The Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) is facing shortage of sanitary workers as a result of which it has not been able to keep the area under its jurisdiction clean, Dawn has learnt.

The TMA is in need of about 1,000 sanitary workers to carry out work in over 80 union councils. At present, the total strength of sanitation staff is 1,756, out of which 1,306 are permanent whereas the remaining 450 have been engaged on daily- wage basis.

They are appointed on 89-day contract which is renewed. They are paid Rs100 per day, and if, due to an emergency, they fail to turn up for duty, their wage for that day is deducted.

The shortage is due to two reasons, one, no appointments were made for the last 12 years due to ban on recruitment, and, two, 40 new union councils, that were previously part of the district council, had been merged in the TMA under the local government system.

Earlier, the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, now defunct, had only 46 union councils.

However, after the inclusion of new localities, the number swelled to 80. But, the number of sanitary workers remains the same, official sources said.

Many newly-included areas like Shakrial, Defence Housing Society, Dama Syedan, Rehmatabad, Dhoke Ali Akbar, Mohmaddi Colony, Farooq-i-Azam Road, Fauji Colony, Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Baddar Colony, some parts of Muslim Town and Khurram Colony do not have sanitary staff. The existing staff has to do extra work, the sources said.

So much so that 24-hour duty is taken from them on occasions like Eid, Muharram, cleanliness week or when a VIP is visiting the area.

Sanitation duty has now been entrusted to the elected representatives.

The Nazims have been given a specific number of sanitation workers according to the areas of their union councils, and they are now responsible for the cleanliness work in their respective union councils, the in charge of the sanitation staff, Dr Mazhar, said.

He said the existing staff was not even enough for the previous 46 union councils, and with the inclusion of 40 new union councils, the burden on the sanitary staff had doubled.

The available staff, at first, is engaged in cleaning of the main roads and bazaars and later, they are attached with Nazims who supervise the sanitation work in their respective localities, Dr Mazhar said.

He said they had requested the Punjab government to allow the civic body to recruit new sanitary workers, and it had also given permission, but the proposal was not approved by the Tehsil council.

The members are of the view that if new workers are appointed, it will put a burden on the TMA exchequer which is already facing a deficit budget. The members fear they might be deprived of the funds reserved for their development works. They are of the view that new appointments should be made in the next fiscal year.

Several Nazims and councillors, when asked about the sanitation condition in their respective union councils, said the staff given to them was not sufficient. Some said they had not been provided even a single sanitary worker.

A councillor, Nadia Javed, said she had not been given any sanitary worker. There is garbage lying everywhere and we remove it or burn it ourselves, she said.

She said the cleanliness condition was very bad in her locality, New Lalazar, Adiala Road.

The Tehsil Nazim had promised that sanitary staff would be provided for her locality, but so far no worker has been given, she added.

Another Nazim, Rashid Abbasi of union council no 17, said he had been given only eight sanitary workers who could not do the job. I have a large area and I need at least 42 sanitary workers to ensure complete cleanliness, he added.