Although the Lok Sabha election process has concluded a fortnight back, the Election Commission is yet to relieve nearly 4,400 civic staffers from poll duty, thereby badly affecting the pre-monsoon work, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials claimed.
The EC had engaged 11,847 BMC officers and staffers for election duty as block-level and zonal-level officers in February, but 4,393 of them are yet to be relieved from the election duty.
Lok Sabha elections were held in the country in seven phases. In Maharashtra, the polling was conducted in five phases between April 19 and May 20. In Mumbai, it was held on May 20.
Talking to PTI, a senior civic official said that BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani has already written to the collectors of both Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban district on the issue, but the officers and staffers have not been relieved till date.
According to the BMC officials, the EC had also sought the services of another 11,500 BMC staffers for three to four days on the day of polling (May 20) and counting of votes (June 4), but all of them were relieved immediately after the task.
BMC officers said that absence of such a large number of officers and staffers affected the pre-monsoon works of the civic body and it continues to hamper the work.
"Completing the pre-monsoon works became a challenge for the BMC due to the unavailability of the officers and staffers who were absorbed by the BMC for the election duty," said Vijay Balamwar, divisional municipal commissioner of the BMC.
When contacted, Rajendra Kshirsagar, collector of Mumbai suburban district, said they have relieved all the employees except those required for the forthcoming assembly election preparations.
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