Continuing to repose faith in private sector talent, Manohar lal Khattar-led Haryana Government has decided to hire more than 100 professionals from private sector to join Government’s think tank for the implementation and monitoring of key projects.
To bring in professional expertise, the State Government, which is facing severe manpower shortage, will recruit MBA and engineering graduates for the successful implementation of ambitious schemes related to urban development launched by BJP-led Central and Haryana Government.
These experts will be deployed in urban poverty alleviation cell (UPAC) at State and town level in Haryana and will look after the implementation and monitoring of the schemes including Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme (IHSDP), Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), Housing For All (HFA) Mission (urban)-Pardhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), National Urban livelihood Mission (NUlM) and identification of families living Below Poverty line (BPl) in urban areas of the state.
While around six private professionals will be roped in for the NUlM, ten professionals are proposed to be hired for PMAY-U at state level. More than 60 experts each would work at city level for these two programmes.
These experts would be entrusted with tasks in various sectors including finance management, resource mobilisation, explore options related to PPP mode, study risk management and contingent liability issues, conducting surveys among others works. They will be hired on a contract basis on a remuneration of up to 45,000 per month and additional benefits.
The State Government has been giving priority to inducting experts from outside, in key departments instead of preferring its bureaucrats. Earlier also, the government had roped in experts from private sector in an attempt to ensure progress of major projects in departments like Finance, Transport, Power, Urban local Bodies.
“The Government has decided to recruit more than 100 experts or specialists from private sector to supervise the implementation of major projects related to urban development. The outside expertise is required in several areas like financial management, resource mobilisation and other works to implement major welfare programmes in a speedy manner,” said a senior official of Haryana Government.
He said that keeping in view the vital role of several schemes in the urban poverty alleviation as well as in urban development, the government had decided to strengthen the State Urban Development Authority (SUDA) and urban local bodies (UlBs) by setting up urban poverty alleviation cells at state and town level in Haryana.
“The experts to be recruited will be deployed in urban poverty alleviation cells. In view of shortage of class IV employees, the government has also proposed to hire more than 200 town community organizers to work under NUlM,” he added.
After coming to power in 2014, the BJP led Haryana Government had opted to move away from the tradition in state administration, where bureaucrats used to call the shots in policy making and monitoring.
Haryana Government had last year appointed 22 Chief Minister’s good governance associates (CMGGAs) in different districts with an objective to ensure implementation and monitoring of programmes of both Union and State Governments.
The appointment of CMGGAs had come under sharp attack from the opposition parties, who had accused the State Government of undermining the democratically-elected representatives, bureaucracy and the constitutional posts.
In the past, the state Finance Department had also roped in transaction advisors for identifying and developing public private partnership (PPP) projects in various sectors including healthcare, education, skill development, tourism, roads & highways among others.