Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 14

The Military Engineering Services (MES) will outsource officers at the level of assistant engineer and junior engineer to overcome the staff shortage being faced while executing various construction projects.Averring that the workload of MES has increased multi-fold without proportionate increase in staff, a new policy issued by the Army Headquarters this month states that the huge spike in sanction of works necessitates engaging or employing consultants as planners and supervisors for the project duration.“These requirements are dynamic and based on actual workload of projects, which keep fluctuating. This would lead to holding of staff on required basis, thus relieving government burden of bench strength holdings till start of new project and long-term permanent accretion in such cases,” the policy adds.Stating that outsourcing would supplement dynamic requirements, as required, and act as a stop-gap arrangement where deficiency exists, the policy stresses that outsourcing would not be permitted for sensitive defence installations or classified projects. Further, only Indian nationals would be engaged and police verification would be required for all outsourced staff. They would be bound by the Official Secrets Act and confidentiality clauses.The shortage of civilian staff in MES is serious. According to a report tabled by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence earlier this year, the present manpower holding of the MES is just 61,722 against the requirement of 1,96,493, accounting for a deficiency of over 48%.The supervisory staff is deficient by 37%, industrial staff by 41% and other basic staff by 64%.  Staff shortage has cropped up over a period of time. Reduction in manpower due to annual direct recruitment plan, where two-third of yearly wastage vacancies were deducted from 2001-09, prolonged recruitment process and poor intake are among reasons cited for this.