Nagpur: From auditing salaries to planning roads, running buses to managing social media, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is increasingly being run by contractual consultants, with at least 28 appointments made during the administrator’s tenure alone, laying bare a deepening manpower and expertise crisis within the civic body. An analysis of 52 contractual hires between 2017 and 2026 shows that key departments have turned to external experts not as a stopgap arrangement, but as a parallel administrative system. Nowhere is this dependence more visible than in the finance and accounts department, which has repeatedly hired consultants to handle core responsibilities such as Seventh Pay Commission rollout, audit objections, pay fixation and retirement case scrutiny. A steady stream of hires points to a sustained outsourcing of financial governance. The town planning department presents an even starker picture. For its GIS-based planning system, the NMC hired an entire team of 16 consultants in one go, effectively outsourcing a critical urban planning function. Engineering wings, particularly the public works and public health engineering departments, have relied on retired officials to supervise cement road projects and handle high-value initiatives like the Nag River pollution abatement and air quality management. Multiple retired deputy engineers were brought back on contract, raising questions over in-house technical capacity.The transport department has recently seen a surge in hiring of consultants for managing the rollout of electric buses and operations, while solid waste management continues to depend on external coordinators for Bhandewadi dumping yard oversight and Swachh Bharat-linked work.Even administrative and communication roles have been outsourced. The general administration department engaged consultants for secretariat work, while social media coordinators and publicity experts were hired to manage the corporation’s public outreach.Of the 23 entries officially marked as appointments during administrator rule, the total headcount reaches 28 individuals, including group hires like GIS experts and retired engineers. If additional unmarked but contemporaneous entries are included, the figure rises further. Civic activists and former officials warn that the growing consultant culture points to a systemic hollowing out of NMC’s core departments, many of which are grappling with nearly 50% vacancies. “Consultants are meant to supplement governance, not substitute it,” said a former senior official, cautioning that prolonged dependence risks eroding accountability and institutional memory. Citing a key example, the official noted that the public health engineering department has been relying heavily on retired deputy engineer Mohammed Israil for monitoring the Rs1,926 crore Nag River Pollution Abatement project for over a decade. “If he discontinues, the department would be virtually blank on the project,” he added.
