By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In an unprecedented move, the Upper Divisional Assistants (UDAs), Personal Assistants (PAs) and Lower Divisional Assistants (LDAs) among others have been assigned the task of collecting parking fees, thanks to the reassigning of the job profiles by the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Much to the disappointment of the staff, MUDA Chairman Ampareen Lyngdoh has decided to go ahead with the reassigning of work to utilise the overstaffed MUDA.
Ampareen, who is also the Urban Affairs Minister, has taken this decision to ensure that the staffs do not sit in the office without doing any job.
The staffs have been asked to leave their desk work and assist in the collection of the parking fees at the MUDA Parking Lot at Khyndai Lad.
As per the order issued by MUDA Secretary Tableland Lyngwa on Tuesday, the staffs working as PAs, UDAs, LDAs, SAs and Stenographers have been directed to sit in the parking counter and assist in the collection of the parking fees.
When contacted, Ampareen, who is presently in New Delhi, said this initiative was long over due since there are many staffs in MUDA who are not doing any work.
“We need to understand that MUDA is already overstaffed. We just cannot pay salaries to them if they are doing nothing. One has to work to earn their salaries,” the Urban Affairs Minister said.
She also said that this decision was taken to pluck the leakages of the funds generated through parking fees collected at the parking lot at Khyndai Lad.
“We have decided to depute our female staff in the parking counters to ensure that there is no leakages of the parking fees collected. I have found that there has been a huge drop in the fees collected at the parking lot in the past two years,” the MUDA Chairman added.
Commenting on the discontentment among the staff following the new order, she said the staff should be thankful to her instead of complaining.
“I could have terminated their services since we are already overstaffed. But I do not want to take away their bread and butter. I have given them a chance to contribute towards increasing the revenue generation of MUDA,” the Urban Affairs Minister added.
The new order, meanwhile, has not gone down very well with the MUDA staff, sources said.
As per their agreement of appointment, there was no mention that the staff would be assigned with the job of assisting in the collection of the parking fees, the sources said.
“These staffs have been appointed to assist in the day to day function of MUDA,” sources said, adding that the new order was issued without taking the staff into confidence.
The sources also mentioned that the staffs were engulfed with the fear that this might be an attempt on the part of the MUDA authorities to terminate them from service since the new order clearly mentioned that if the staff failed to attend to their new duties they would be asked to leave.
“It is unacceptable that the female staff have been asked to stay at the parking counter till 8 pm. This is impossible since many of them also have to take care of their families,” the sources added.