Hyderabad, a city undergoing rapid urban expansion, faces a significant challenge as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) grapples with a severe staff shortage. With more than 4,000 positions across various departments remaining unfilled, the civic body’s capacity to deliver essential services is increasingly compromised.Currently, GHMC operates with approximately 4,500 permanent staff members. However, this figure is alarmingly inadequate compared to the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH), which had over 10,000 employees in the early 2000s when the city’s population was just over 5 million.
This discrepancy is stark when compared to other major Indian cities. For instance, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) employ over 100,000 municipal staff each, catering to populations of approximately 20 million and 30 million, respectively. In contrast, GHMC’s total workforce, including over 25,000 outsourced personnel, pales in comparison, raising concerns about its ability to maintain service standards.Social activist Harish Dagar highlights the city’s cleanliness issues, noting that irregular garbage collection is a significant problem. “As Hyderabad’s population expands and its boundaries grow, GHMC must ensure sufficient manpower to provide reliable services to taxpayers who expect a clean and well-maintained environment,” Dagar asserts.
Compounding the issue are ongoing retirements, which further deplete the workforce. Recently, 38 employees from the sanitation, taxation, and town planning departments retired, adding to the mounting vacancies.GHMC officials acknowledge the gravity of the situation and are taking steps to address it. Plans are underway to recruit 200 town planning surveyors and an equal number of junior assistants for the administration department. A senior GHMC official stated, “We have reached out to the state government for assistance in conducting the hiring process through the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC).”Despite these efforts, the recruitment drive may only provide a temporary respite. The civic body must devise a comprehensive strategy to bridge the staffing gap and enhance its operational capacity to keep pace with Hyderabad’s burgeoning growth. Without substantial augmentation of its workforce, GHMC’s ability to deliver essential services will continue to be strained, potentially impacting the quality of life for millions of residents.
