Retrenchment may spark off trouble

Statesman News Service

MALDA, July 12: - An instruction from the directorate of local bodies to lay off hundreds of casual workers engaged with the English Bazaar Municipality, has landed the Congress, Trinamul and BJP-run civic board in trouble. The development has triggered some hasty meetings between the civic body chief and non-left councillors ~ the objective, how to save the situation and satisfy the DLB’s instruction as well. The EBM councillors fear that civic service would collapse if they disengage all casual staff recruited after 31 December1991, in keeping with the DLB instruction. In a letter to the English Bazaar Municipality chief on 9 July, Mr S K Bhowmick, joint director, municipal affairs has asked the board to ‘disengage’ all casual staff within seven days from the date of receipt of the letter. It may be noted that EBM has since 1992 engaged nearly 1,200 casual workers. The CPI-M, Congress and Trinamul had recruited the casual workers during their tenure in the board. The Congress councillors today alleged that the CPI-M backed Staff Union of the EBM and CPI-M councillors lodged complaints with the DLB recently and informed it of the presence of the casual workers and ongoing recruitment. “Acting on their complaint the DLB inquired about the casual workers’ recruitment and instructed to ‘disengage’ them with immediate effect,” said Mr Asish Kundu, a Congress councillor. The EBM chief, Mr Narendra Nath Tiwari refused to comment on the development. It was learnt that the EBM board had been suppressing the matter of casual staff recruitment in the EBM for years. As a result, the civic body is releasing payment more than Rs 12 lakh every month. The Left councillors alleged that the Congress led civic body has diverted funds to pay the causal staff. The non-left staff leaders are demanding ‘retrenchment’ of casual staff from 2005. The situation is proving a catch-22 one for the Congress led board. On the one hand it is likely to face stiff resistance and an agitation from the casual workers if the DLB’s instruction has to be executed. On the other hand, the civic board cannot afford to violate the DLB’s instruction. Under the circumstances, civic service, it is feared, could fail in the area.