The State will get its first batch of 78 trained city managers working to solve urban issues in a couple of months. Applicants who cleared the written examination for recruiting city managers, held earlier in the month of September, were given letters of appointment by State Urban Development Minister CP Singh on Monday during an official ceremony at SKIPA.
While addressing the City Managers, Singh stated, “The office of City Manager is one with great responsibilities. Those selected for the post are expected to work round the clock for the development of Jharkhand.”
The 78 persons who received these appointment letters will spend couple of months to get acquainted with the work they are supposed to do before being starting work as city managers, informed Urban Development Secretary Arun Kumar Singh.
These city managers have already been appointed in nine municipal corporations and bodies across the State. Ranchi got the most with 15, followed by Jamshedpur, Deoghar, Dhanbad and Chas, which got 10 city managers each. Eight were appointed at Adityapur and Chaibasa, Medininagar and Hazaribagh got five city managers each.
“The two-month long orientation period will focus on teaching the newly-recruited city managers about the working methods and procedures of municipal corporations, bodies and panchayats. We are facing a manpower crunch and these city managers are meant to help us curb this problem. They will work under town commissioners to efficiently manage the operations and projects carried out by local authorities,” said Urban Development Director Shashi Ranjan Prasad Singh.
“The city managers will spend these two months learning the ropes at XlRI, and with Deputy Commissioners and local bodies. We expect them to help in managing the urban local authorities and panchayats as qualified management professionals,” stated the Urban Development Minister.
The office of city managers will be crucial in implementation of Centre-run schemes like Smart Cities and AMRUT project in the state, as these initiatives are to be implemented via municipal corporations.
“Being professionals, city managers will be able to expedite this work in a more professional manner with efficiency. Their job profile will include developmental projects and revenue collection for the urban local bodies, crucial elements of the ongoing projects being implemented through municipal authorities,” UD Director said.
And their number will increase too, along with other ranks. He further added, “We conducted tests for 100 posts of city managers but only 78 could be appointed. There are plans to fill the vacancies in near future. Also, we will be appointing engineers for local bodies.”