“The shortage of malies (gardeners) has resulted in poor maintenance of parks and the work of the department is also suffering,” the proposal reads, adding that the lack of manpower for the upkeep of MCD parks and greenery in the city has drawn criticism from all quarters.
According to the tabled document, the proposed manpower will be hired cluster-wise by the horticulture department of the corporation for five months. A total cost of Rs 24,81,09,100 will be incurred for hiring the manpower across five clusters.
“Maintenance of parks and greenery cannot be achieved without deploying manpower as the department is dependent on outsourced manpower for maintenance of parks and gardens,” the proposal reasoned.
The department also uses several vehicles such as canters, trippers, water tankers and tractor-tree ambulances, among others for day-to-day work. At present, the MCD has 26 drivers for the 98 vehicles available.
The work to hire for the vacant posts was pending due to the non-constitution of the standing committee, the proposal said. Currently, MCD has 15,000 parks and green areas under its jurisdiction. While the corporation has a vacancy for 7,872 gardeners for the maintenance of parks, only 2,756 posts are filled, according to data provided by the civic body.