Infrastructure projects fail to take off Wednesday, Jul 8 2009

Trivandrum City Roads Improvement Programme

Important infrastructure projects in Kerala are failing to take off owing to politicking. The Vizhinjam International Transshipment Terminal Project and Smart City Project were undermined by inner party rivalries in the CPI (M).

When Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan pushed forward the Smart City Project, the Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem tried to promote other projects for formation of Special Economic Zones. Competitive politics delayed decisions. In the case of Vizhijam project, the two groups in the party tried to push the cause of competitive bidders for the project. The result of continuing litigation which has stalled the project for an indefinite period.

The Kerala Transport Project and Thiruvananthapuram City Improvement Scheme were project taken up by the previous UDF Government and the Left suspected corruption in the contract. For the very reason, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac took on the contractors, but ended up giving the contract back to the very same contractors at a higher rate. These projects are now struggling for completion.

The only silver line is initiatives for the Kochi Metro Rail project. The Centre would also be completing the Vallarpadam project as the State Government has completed land acquisition after much delay. However, proposed  railway coach factory and wagon factory are still in paper.

The renovation of Sabarigiri project is progressing only slowly. The Ramackalmedu wind power projects too is stalled.

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Suresh Kumar can seek whistle blower protection Tuesday, Dec 9 2008

Remains of Cloud Nine Resort demolished by Government

Kerala Chief Secretary P. J. Thomas has issued show cause notice to former Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister K. Suresh Kumar for his remarks against the personal staff of the Chief Minister and functioning of the Chief Minister’s Office.

Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan has once again demonstrated his weakness by succumbing to the demand for Mr. Kumar’s blood. Mr. Kumar was obviously speaking in defence of the Chief Minister also in attacking the personal staff who had criticised the Chief Minister in the CPI (M) State Committee, though it can be asked how far it served the purpose.

In any case, Mr. Kumar was speaking the plain truth. He was not speaking against any policy of the government. He was rather speaking in support of them. He is pointing out that the Chief Minister’s Office had failed to carry out government policies and even undermined them. So, he can seek whistle blower protection for disclosing the truth about a key office of the government. It had been dysfunctional because of multiple afflictions—political partisanship, inexperience and ineptness.

A larger question is whether a Chief Minister elected to the Office with popular support is not entitled to choose his personal staff. Mr. Achuthanandan needed qualified, capable and effective staff because his own knowledge and experience in administration was extremely limited. However, in a bid to take control of the Office, the party posted people who were inexperienced or inefficient. The result was for all to see. The Chief Minister could never insist on having an Office he needed for carrying out his direct and implied promises to the electorate.

This is not to say that Mr. Kumar was faultless. He often appeared to be impulsive. There was no justification for his mowing down the tea plants of Tata Tea on the roadsides from the environmental or tactical point. The uprooting of the plants during monsoon caused soil erosion. Tactically, he could have persuaded the Tatas to surrender the land without the use of force if the government had the necessary determination. He should also have not tried to demolish the windows of a resort on the very day the case relating to the resort was before the High Court.

The Chief Minister needed a wise, diplomatic person with cold determination to carry out the Munnar mission instead of mavericks. It appears that the Chief Minister under-estimated the complexity and sensitiveness of the task and difficulties in fulfilling the objectives. In several cases, the government could have taken over the buildings instead of demolishing them. He also seems to have miscalculated the political opposition he would face even from his own camp in Idukki district. For strategic reasons, he should also have not alienated the CPI. There was no need for VS to try an image building exercise in Munnar as he already had the image gained as the Opposition Leader. He could have allowed the CPI ministers to carry on with their image building exercises, and in the process, trapped them into carrying out his vision (or mission).

Update (11/12/08): As an IAS Officer, Mr. Suresh Kumar can approach the Central Administrative Tribunal challenging his suspension from service (orders were served on Thursday.) However, it seems that he cannot approach the Central Vigilance Commission for whistle blower protection as the Commission has no jurisdiction over private individuals and State Governments. Kerala government has no law or resolution for whistile blower protection.

Related Posts:
Munnar: Mission statements
Chief Minister Achuthanandan’s challenge
Munnar Mission takes path of least resistance
Politics is the art of the possible

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India burning Sunday, Aug 31 2008

Collapse of governance and administration in parts of India

Several parts of India are becoming unmanageable. The politicians are mismanaging several issues while celebrating economic progress of the country. This could ultimately neutralise progress and push the country into anarchy.

Jammu and Kashmir flared up over a minor issue, which would have been amicably resolved. Orissa is aflame in another communal flare up. Naxalites are getting rooted in several parts of the country. Their actions had also triggered the communal flare up in Orissa. Even after a week, the government has failed to restore order in Orissa.

What happened in Gujarat about five years ago cannot be forgotten. It was State-sponsored terrorism. Now, terrorists are retaliating with bombs.

The county’s IT capital is witnessing not only bomb attacks but also violence of parochial issues. Mumbai also saw bomb blasts. Security agencies are far from being able to prevent such attacks. Insurgency is ranging in North Eastern States for years.

In Kerala, ruling party supporters are releasing their men from police stations by force (report about latest incident). The police are inactive against underground operations of extremists in the State.

Perhaps the worst is happening in Bihar. Criminals are not even sparing the victims of a devastating flood.

India is not shining. The country’s glorious culture is fading.

Related:

A time for cold realism

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Crises at Sabarimala Sunday, Dec 30 2007

The problems at Sabarimala temple are the best example of ineptness of administration. The Travancore Devaswom Board is just incapable of handling the influx of pilgrims. The Government has to intervene strongly every year to make sufficient facilities available to the pilgrims without much success. Every year, the Board and the Governments promise that the pucca arrangements would be made before the season. But the arrangements in variably fall short of requirement. Unexpected increase in number of tourists is just an excuse being made by administrators incapable of planning for the pilgrimage.

So, it is high time that a body independent of the Board is created to handle the pilgrimage in a professional manner. Those at the helm of affairs should not be politicians as recommended by the Paripoornan Commission, but people capable of professional management. In this regard, one can take a leaf from the manner in which some of the institutions under the Matha Amrithanandamayi are being run.
There is no need for Sabarimala to remain the milch cow of Travancore Devaswom Board, which has many temples to manage.

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Munnar: Mission statements Tuesday, Nov 6 2007

Repeated statements by the Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan that the Munnar mission is on course do not appear convincing. (The mission was all about evicting encroachers and demolishing unauthorised constructions).

Even if the Chief Minister is sincere, he is not going to the official cooperation required to carry out the task. Officials who took bold stand against the mafia had been ditched.

Many had participated in mission Munnar reluctantly as they have to act also against their colleagues who had aided the encroachers. Now, they would try not to antagonise corrupt officials in their own departments and politicians outside.

They have burned their fingers while the Chief Minister has lost his image. He also seems to be losing his support within the party. Officials would not fail to notice that.

Related blog:

Munnar muddle

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ISRO and high attitudes Monday, Oct 22 2007

The Indian Space Research Organisation is reportedly insisting that the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology should be in the Merchiston estate area near Ponmudi in Kerala.

If the IAS officers are trained at Mussorie, space scientists too should be trained at a high altitude location. Then, they should have a clear view of skies as astronomy is going to be one of the subjects of study. It has already declared that the Government land at the top of Ponmudi and the old helipad there are unsuitable for the purpose.

They claim that IIST is going to be the third Space Institute to be in the world. This does not appear to be true. (Here is a list of space institutes of the world.) Several of them have campuses in the cities and the plains. Though institutes such as Caltec have facilities on mountaintops for astronomical observations, their campuses are elsewhere. Why can’t the ISRO be satisfied with an observatory at a high altitude location and a campus on the plains?

The ISRO authorities have persuaded Achuthanandan to visit Ponmudi. The Chief Minister understood that it was any way going to work to his advantage. If the Government were to agree to their demand, he would be doing so after an on-the-spot study. If not, it would be another crusade against corruption and environmental degradation.

One of the points that the ISRO authorities was keen to point out to the visiting delegation was that the area cleared for the helipad was in the middle of the tea estate. They were silent about the fact that the estates at Ponmudi are surrounded by evergreen forests.

The Cabinet knows all about that and much more. Hence, the delay in taking a decision. While the Chief Minister is inclined to award the land to ISRO so that the Institute could be retained in Kerala, Forest Minister Binoy Viswam is a cat that fell into the hot water before.

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