NMC to hire locals as guards in hospitals

NASHIK: With the assembly elections round the corner, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)-run Nashik civic body decided to appoint 155 security guards on honorarium basis instead of recruiting them through private contractor with an aim to provide employment opportunities to the sons of the soil.
The civic administration had submitted a proposal to make security guards available through private contractor at a cost of Rs 2.52 crore for a year at the general body meeting of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Thursday.However, corporators from all parties strongly sought the appointment of security guards on honorarium basis instead of hiring through private contractors.
City mayor Yatin Wagh directed the civic administration to appoint security guards on honorarium basis instead of appointing the posts through private contractor.
As per the Bombay High Court judgment dated May 6, 2009, security guards are must be present 24 hours outside neonatal and postnatal wards and paediatric wards of hospitals and maternity homes to avoid the theft of new born babies. Accordingly, the municipal corporation appoints security guards at 13 hospitals and maternity homes across the city every year through a private contractor. The term of the previous contractor ended on March 31 but was granted an extension until the appointment of new one.
"Although the Bombay high court has directed deployment of security guards at the hospitals and maternity homes, it is upto the local self-government bodies how to implement it. There is much difference in the salary given to the security guards and of those appointed on honorarium basis. As the house has favoured with majority the appointment of security guards on honourarium basis, I direct the civic administration to immediately appoint security guards on honorarium basis," Wagh said.
During the discussion, former chairperson of the NMC's standing committee and Congress corporator Uddhav Nimse said that unemployed youths will get jobs if the posts of security guards are recruited on honorarium basis instead giving a contract to private operators."
Elected members from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party and the MNS support the demand for hiring guards on honorarium.
Gurumit Bagga, group leader of Shahar Vikas Agahdi, said, "The NMC is already facing financial crunch due to decline in its revenue from various taxes. At this juncture, why is the civic body favouring contractors to hire security guards? Instead, appointments of the said posts on honourarium basis could reduce the burden on the NMC. Moreover, we may also consider players in the city as security guards."
The recent sports policy of the civic body proposes that 5% posts should be reserved for national and international level players during recruitment in the civic administration.