Only 32 of 147 Junior Engineer Posts Filled at MCG

GURUGRAM: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram is running its field engineering with barely a fifth of the junior engineers it is sanctioned to have. Official data shows that only 32 of 147 sanctioned junior engineer (JE) posts are filled, leaving 78% of them vacant.

JEs are the civic body's people on the ground. They inspect drains, supervise contractors and check that work billed to the corporation has actually been done. For a population estimated at nearly 18 lakh, the present strength works out to one JE for more than 56,000 residents.

The gap is almost as wide one rung higher. Of 51 sanctioned assistant engineer posts, 36 are empty. Assistant and junior engineers together account for 151 of the 156 vacancies in the engineering division, and nearly all of those are in the divisional field offices that deal with day-to-day complaints.

## Thin at the top as well

The chief engineer's post is filled. Only one of the two superintending engineer posts and four of the 10 executive engineer posts are occupied. Against 211 posts sanctioned under a notification issued on August 7, 2026, the division has 55 people on its rolls, which means about 74% of its strength is missing.

Successive MCG commissioners have raised the shortage with the state government and sought recruitment. Approvals and postings, however, have not kept pace with the growth of the city.

This monsoon showed what that means on the street. MCG's own roster lists 155 waterlogging hotspots, close to five for every JE now in service. On August 24, heavy rain submerged key stretches including the Delhi-Jaipur highway and Sheetla Mata Road, and the district disaster management authority advised offices to let employees work from home.

For residents, the shortage translates into fewer engineers available to inspect a choked drain or a broken road and to check a contractor's repair before the bill is cleared.

## Sanitation on stopgap contracts

Sanitation has its own set of problems. Between January and August, MCG spent Rs 173 crore on sanitation work, covering garbage collection, road sweeping, manpower, vehicles and stray animal management. Repeated strikes by sanitation workers over wages, regularisation and workplace safety have left garbage lying uncollected for days at a stretch.

For much of the year the corporation relied on interim arrangements. Temporary tenders for door-to-door collection were issued in January and June, and road-sweeping contracts were floated in March and July. A long-term garbage collection contract worth Rs 647 crore was awarded in August, while the road-sweeping tender is still under technical evaluation.

MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said fresh engineering posts had been created and hiring had started. "The engineering posts have been created under the restructured cadre and recruitment is being taken up. Sanitation will improve once the new agencies are fully on the ground," he said.

No timeline for new engineers joining the divisional offices has been made public.