Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has decided to source 180 peons through private manpower agencies instead of filling the posts through direct municipal recruitment, according to a report by Nav Gujarat Samay. The decision comes as hundreds of sanctioned peon positions remain vacant across the civic body, including in areas added after the expansion of municipal limits.
The civic administration has 498 peon posts across different departments, of which only 131 are currently occupied, the report said. This leaves 367 vacancies. Of these, the corporation plans to obtain 180 personnel through agencies already supplying manpower to its health department.
The three agencies named in the report are Ultra Modern, Clean India and Shashwat Safalya Pvt. Ltd. They currently provide manpower such as peons, ward boys and attendants at urban health centres and UHCs. The agencies are paid a combined Rs 16 crore annually for this work, according to the report.
The proposal to obtain the additional 180 peons from these agencies was approved by the standing committee without issuing a separate tender or seeking quotations, the report said. The arrangement is linked to the corporation’s wider staffing shortage, which has continued after the expansion of its administrative boundaries and the creation of demand for personnel in newly incorporated areas.
The report also said that several posts listed in the corporation’s staffing schedule have either remained vacant or been discontinued rather than filled. The shortage has affected multiple departments, while recruitment has reportedly been prioritised only for selected sections instead of being conducted across the municipal administration.
Standing Committee Chairman Kamleshbhai Patel said the agencies would provide the 180 peons for only three months and that a fresh tender process would be completed during this period. However, the civic administration had amended the proposal to mention a contract period extending until November 30, 2027, according to the report. The differing timelines make the procurement process and the eventual status of the posts significant issues for scrutiny.
The decision places temporary manpower deployment at the centre of Ahmedabad’s response to long-standing vacancies. It also raises an administrative question about whether essential municipal staffing will be addressed through regular recruitment or continued outsourcing. The immediate next step, as stated by the standing committee chairman, is to complete a new tender process within three months.
