Nagpur: Contrary to its ‘green city’ reputation, 179 gardens (spread over 238 hectares) spread across 10 areas of Nagpur city are slipping into a state of neglect, with only 40 employees to maintain them.
Shortage of horticulture staff due to meager budgetary allocation by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and paucity of funds for park maintenance is slowly choking the city’s lungs.
The fact that more than 50% of the gardens or parks in Nagpur are in poor condition points to the serious lack of civic authorities in providing breathing space to the residents, some citizens said.
One of the major reasons for such neglect is the manpower crunch in the department. Out of 273 sanctioned employees, only 40 are working for the gardens. Thus, with only 15% manpower, it is impossible to maintain 238 hectares of gardens in Nagpur.
In the Horticulture Department, out of a total of 273 posts, 182 posts are vacant. Sources said the posts were sanctioned when the number of parks or gardens was 42.
Important posts like Gardener, Security Guard and Mazdoor (Labourer) are lying vacant. Out of the sanctioned 76 posts of gardeners, only 21 were appointed. Similarly, out of 115 posts of laborers, 66 posts are lying vacant, affecting the maintenance of the gardens.
Out of 91 posts, 51 employees of Horticulture Department are working in other departments, which is surprising because Horticulture Department itself is struggling without manpower.
TOI visited several gardens across the city and found that the gardens developed by the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and handed over to the NMC are in pathetic condition.
The officials of the department admitted that the department is facing a huge crisis in the maintenance of the parks and parks. The department is maintaining the gardens with the available manpower, he said, adding that if one garden is cleaned today, its next turn may be after several days, when the staff is cleaning other gardens. Let’s clean up.
Congress councilor Manoj Sangole also informed that NIT gardens in Siddharth Nagar, Lashkari Bagh, Laghupay Colony are dilapidated due to zero maintenance. Play equipment in many gardens has been damaged and many parks are littered with garbage. Sangole said that the condition of the parks can be improved if manpower is deployed.
Echoing Kaustav Chatterjee, green activist and founder of Green Vigil Foundation, eyebrows were raised when 48 gardens from NIT were taken over by the civic body, as the former was reluctant to appoint manpower for its 131 gardens as well. was fighting for. “The decision proved to be overly optimistic and as a result most of the gardens are in pathetic condition today,” he said.
Chatterjee said there is a need to restrict political interference so that the employees can work in the job for which they have been recruited.
Due to paucity of manpower, the Horticulture Department is facing difficulty in carrying out tree counting as well as restricting illegal felling of trees. The green activist said, “Since the power to allow felling of trees has been given to the zonal offices, the cases of cutting trees have increased manifold due to political pressure.”
The citizens said that the NMC should not neglect the manpower in the department as it plays a vital role in checking and maintaining the greenery of the city.
no green thumb
179—garden
273—Sanctioned Posts
182—empty
91—working
51–Transferred to another department
40— Manpower at Ground Zero
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