“Ghost sweepers” are eating away the revenue of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. A large number of road sweeping staff does not exist, though they seem to be paid a salary! Contractors have been siphoning off GHMC funds by showing more staff on paper than they actually employ for sweeping of roads and streets. GHMC spends nearly Rs 200 crore per annum on wages of sweepers, and it is estimated that over Rs 25 crore of this amount is being pocketed by contractors in nexus with GHMC officials and corporators.
Enquiries by this correspondent revealed that on paper it is shown that 18,500 workers are sweeping 10,000-km length of roads in the city daily, but in reality less than 14,000 are being employed to sweep the roads. The GHMC is paying Rs 6,700 per month towards wages of each worker, but the wages paid to 4,000 ghost workers is being siphoned off by unscrupulous contractors.
The city roads have been divided into 978 units for sweeping purposes. Each unit should have 18 workers who have to sweep 8-km of road per day. As several contractors employ less than 14 workers per unit, those that do work, sweep more roads than they should, covering for the non-existent sweepers whose salaries the contractor pockets. Mayor Majid Hussain said, “We have started the process of eliminating the contractor raj. Women from self-help groups are being helped by GHMC to register as societies from April 1 onwards. They will be given the responsibility of sweeping the roads. Each group (society) will comprise seven women members only. Their wages will be paid through bank accounts only, so there can be no cheating.”
However, contractors say it is not fair to generalise as black sheep exist in any sector. “Some of the officials in GHMC want to purchase sweeping machines by blaming the contractors. A lot of money is made by some officials in purchase of mechanised sweeping vehicles,” alleged a senior contractor.