KOCHI: As Pinarayi 2.0 government completes two months in the office next week, the administration seems to be in no hurry to fill several key posts that have been lying vacant for some months or those that are handled by officers in a stop-gap arrangement.While the government has also not appointed thembers of the Kerala Planning Board even after nearly two months, the managing director posts at Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) and Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) are handled by bureaucrats as an additional responsibility. It’s been more than three months since KMRL MD Alkesh Kumar Sharma left for Delhi to assume charge as the additional secretary in the Union Cabinet Secretariat, but the government is yet to find a replacement for him. K R Jyotilal, principal secretary (general administration), who sits in Thiruvananthapuram, has been given the additional charge of KMRL.
The post of Special Projects (Infrastructure), which Alkesh Sharma was handling, has also not been filled in the last three months or so. Though the post of CIAL MD has been given to S Suhas, former Ernakulam collector, after V J Kurien stepped down on June 9, the LDF government’s search for a full-time MD continues.“There is a shortage of officers in the government,” admitted a senior bureaucrat, who wished not to be named.
K Elangovan, principal secretary (industries), is given the additional responsibility of the Kochi-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor project, which was earlier handled by Alkesh Sharma as the Special Officer (Infrastructure). As far as KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board) is concerned, the government has asked its CEO K M Abraham to continue. He has also been given the new charge as chief principal secretary to the chief minister.
The first Cabinet meeting of the second Pinarayi government had re-appointed V K Ramachandran the vice-chairperson of Kerala State Planning Board and last week Teeka Ram Meena was made its member secretary. But the new members have not been named yet. “It’s not clear why the appointments are delayed as the election results saw the continuation of the LDF government in power. A delay can be explained had there been a change in the government,” said a former planning board member.When contacted Finance Minister K N Balagopal said the new members of the planning board will be announced soon. “There is no major delay. It’s just that the process is taking some time,” he said.