Nagpur: Graduate, postgraduate and even professionally qualified youths with MBA, engineering and law degrees will soon be sweeping Nagpur’s streets as permanent civic employees after securing Class IV sanitation jobs in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). The educational profile of many of the selected candidates reflects growing scramble for secure govt employment, where even highly qualified aspirants are opting for entry-level civic posts.“On Sunday, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will hand over appointment letters to 579 newly recruited civic employees at a function on the NMC headquarters premises. Union minister Nitin Gadkari will be the chief guest. Of the total recruits, 476 are sanitary workers, while 103 candidates have been selected through the civic body’s direct recruitment process for various posts including tax collectors, clerks and librarians,” mayor Neeta Thakre said while addressing a press conference here on Friday. Deputy mayor Leela Hathibed, standing committee chairperson Shivani Dani-Wakhare among others were also present.The sanitary workers include 129 candidates selected under Lad-Page Committee recommendations and 347 recruited from Adivasi Safai Karmachari category. Sources said more than half of the 476 recruits are graduates, while several possess postgraduate qualifications. A scrutiny of their educational credentials also revealed that some hold professional degrees such as MBA, Bachelor of Engineering and LLB, confirmed a senior official from NMC’s solid waste management department.Despite their qualifications, they opted for Class IV posts, highlighting the premium attached to permanent govt jobs.In a first-of-its-kind initiative, NMC’s information technology cell will simultaneously dispatch appointment letters in PDF format to all 476 sanitary workers through WhatsApp and SMS. Besides receiving printed appointment orders during the programme, the recruits will also be able to instantly download and preserve digital copies on their mobile phones.Mayor described the appointments as a historic milestone for sanitation workers and said the civic body was implementing the long-pending recommendations of the Lad-Page Committee with the approval of the state govt. She said the appointments would provide job security to hundreds of workers who have been waiting for regularisation for years. The civic body is also planning to develop housing for sanitation workers in all six assembly constituencies of the city.WhatsApp-based ticketing systemSunday’s programme will also witness launch of NMC transport department’s WhatsApp-based ticketing system for Aapli Bus services. Commuters will be able to purchase digital tickets by scanning a QR code inside buses, selecting their boarding and destination points on WhatsApp, making online payment and receiving instant digital ticket, eliminating the need for paper tickets.
