THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Its ever-expanding boundaries seem to be giving the biggest Corporation in the state big headaches. The zonal offices of the Corporation, especially those in the former panchayat areas, have been hit by severe staff shortage, in effect paralysing their functioning.It was at the Corporation Council meeting here on Friday that many councillors spoke out against the way of functioning of the zonal offices.Members from former panchayat areas complained that ever since they became part of the Corporation, things have only moved downhill in their wards. The collection of property tax and the much-hyped cleaning campaign had little effect in their wards, thanks to the shortage of bill collectors and health officials, they said.M R Rajiv, Nettayam councillor, said in the Council meeting: “The working of the zonal office in Vattiyoorkavu is in doldrums. There is a shortage of trained and experienced staff, due to which many Central-assisted projects like BSUP have suffered big setbacks. The officials in the zonal offices do not know the details regarding many projects; they are not aware of the many initiatives of the Corporation and people do not know who to turn to.”Giving a sample of the indifferent attitude of zonal offices, BJP councillor Asok Kumar displayed the pictures of an ongoing construction in Fort zonal area adjacent to the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple, which has now been declared a high-security zone.“Even after repeatedly asking the zonal officers to take action against it, they have been turning a deaf ear,” Asok Kumar said.While the whole Corporation suffers from lack of bill collectors, the newly-added wards have been reeling under shortage of health officials too. Many new wards have been finding it difficult to handle the cleanliness drive launched by the local body due to the shortage of health officials to coordinate it.The Council, on Friday, decided to appoint 20 new tax collectors to increase the property tax collection in the Corporation.Mayor K Chandrika said that the temporary bill collectors had left since their term had ended, and that new bill collectors had not yet been appointed through the PSC. So, for the time being, bill collectors would be appointed through a walk-in-interview, she said.However, the BJP and the UDF members maintained that the selection of bill collectors must be on the basis of a criteria. They should not be randomly selected upon anybody’s whims, UDF councillor Maheswaran Nair said. It was seconded by BJP councillor Asok Kumar too.The Mayor said that she had informed the government about the staff shortage in the Revenue and Health Departments too.
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