THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Excessive political intervention is learnt to be behind the troubles which has plagued the Phase II of the Jalanidhi project, implemented by Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (KRWSA).The situation has turned so murky that sources close to the Jalanidhi office revealed that Jalanidhi Executive Director N Prasanth had asked the higher-ups to relieve him of the post following a series of baseless allegations levelled against him.A report which appeared in the columns of this paper on Sunday had revealed about how the notification issued to appoint new hands on deputation/contract basis for the Phase II had invited the displeasure of the government.Contrary to earlier reports that it was the Water Resources Department which had decided to put the appointments on hold, it had now emerged that the directions to cancel the notification for appointments have been given by the office of the Water Resources Minister.Though applications had already been received at the Jalanidhi office from qualified hands, it is learnt that the office of the Water Resources Minister had asked Jalanidhi executive director N Prasanth not to consider the applications and instead gave him a list of candidates with political allegiance."The list which was given by the Minister’s office doesn’t have a single experienced hand. On the other hand, highly qualified persons had applied for these posts. We have to go as per norms of the World Bank which is funding the project,’’ said a source with the Jalanidhi office.The notification for appointments to the 18 posts was issued on July 7, with July 20 as the last date for submitting applications. “In fact, as per KRWSA by-law, only the consent of the governing council of Jalanidhi is needed for issuing notification and we had sent the list to the government just to ensure transparency. But, now it is being claimed that government approval is mandatory for issuing notification. We have been asked to cancel the notification citing procedural lapses, which is not true,’’ a source pointed out.The important issue is that the World Bank team will hold its appraisal meeting from August 16. "We have not yet got people to start the work. Contrary to media reports that the reason for the troubles are the employees of the Phase I whose contract had ended, the real cause of the problem are the political games,’’ he added.And executive director Prasanth, upset about his name being dragged into political games, has expressed his wish to step down. "It was the other day that a media report had appeared saying he has got a new official vehicle costing lakhs of rupees. We found that the news was planted by the Minister’s office. There is a budgetary provision for buying a new vehicle,’’ said an official.
Comments
0 comment