Nagpur: Municipal commissioner Vipin Itankar has ordered suspension of three civic officials from Dhantoli and Mangalwari zones for remaining absent from sanitation workers’ attendance stands during duty hours. The suspension orders are likely to be issued on Tuesday.The commissioner has also directed officials to take strict action against sanitation inspectors and jamadars who report late at attendance stands. The move comes after surprise inspections exposed widespread absenteeism among sanitation workers and supervisory staff.Additional commissioners Ankit, M Muruganantham and Milind Meshram, deputy municipal commissioner Rajesh Bhagat and chief sanitation officer Dr Gajendra Mahalle had conducted surprise inspections on Sept 30 at nine sanitation attendance stands. The inspections found 81 of the 457 sanitation workers deployed at the nine stands were absent.As per NMC, Meshram inspected two attendance stands in ward 33 of Dhantoli zone. At Trisharan Chowk, two of the 54 sanitation workers were absent, while nine of the 67 workers were missing from the Ambedkar statue stand. Stand-in-charge sanitation inspector Anup Tambe and jamadar Akash Jadhav were also absent.At Pagalkhana Chowk attendance stand in Mankapur under Mangalwari zone’s ward 10, Ankit found that as many as 29 of the 89 sanitation workers and jamadar Ritesh Usarbarse were absent.NMC has decided to impose a fine of Rs1,000 on each absent worker and deduct one day’s leave from their service record. The civic body has also prescribed a Rs5,000 penalty for sanitation inspectors and jamadars found reporting late at attendance stands.Deputy municipal commissioner Rajesh Bhagat said suspension letters would be issued shortly. “Surprise inspections at attendance stands will continue. Any officer or employee found absent will face action. Stricter action will be taken if absenteeism continues in future,” Bhagat said.
