The Hindu 24.05.2010
Engineering section of the corporation comes under fire
Staff Reporter
| Senior engineers in the Corporation asked to mend their ways |
None of the chief engineers posted here has worked for longer than six months
Remarks of Principal Secretary become a hot topic of discussion in the Corporation
VIJAYAWADA: The State government has trained its guns on the “work culture” of those in the engineering section in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC). The engineering section has reportedly incurred the wrath of the Government as none of the chief engineers posted here has worked for longer than six months.
The senior engineers in the Corporation were threatened with transfer if they did not “shape up”, at a review meeting held by Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Principal Secretary T.S. Appa Rao a few days ago. Giving a dressing down to senior officials, the Principal Secretary asked them to mend their ways and cooperate with the chief engineer posted here. Municipal Commissioner and about 30 officials including in-charge Chief Engineer, superintending engineer, and executive engineers attended the meeting. The remarks of the Principal Secretary have become a hot topic of discussion in corridors of the Corporation for obvious reasons. N. Durga Prasad, who worked here as Chief Engineer, reportedly dashed off a letter to the government about “work culture” here after he was transferred back to his parent department. The intelligence department also sent a report about the affairs here. Subsequently, the Chief Minister's office is learnt to have asked the municipal administration department to look into the issue, sources say.
The Corporation has had no full time chief engineer for the last couple of years. All the officers who have been posted left the job on one pretext or other.
The State government appointed N. Durga Prasad Chief Engineer of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) in September 2009.
The post of CE fell vacant after the last Chief Engineer T. Anjaneyulu was surrendered to his parent department in November 2008. In less than a week of assuming charge as Chief Engineer, K. Shiv Ram left the city without informing his higher-ups in 2008. He was appointed incharge CE after a gap of nearly six months in March 2008.
