Times of India 21.07.2009

Racing to complete Jn-NURM projects

MYSORE: The city, which has drawn a nil in Jn-NURM projects among 63 urban places implementing the Centre’s ambitious project for urban renewal, is seeking to make amends.

Running against deadline, the officials are seeking additional manpower to manage Jn-NURM projects. And, the ball is now in the court of government.

Additional technical staff are sought to be put on the job so that they can concentrate on the work and complete the works on time. The idea is to allocate the works so that pressure on the officials is eased. The Karnataka Slum Clearance Board is a case in point. The board is engaged in housing projects worth Rs 209 crore for slum dwellers in three phases, which is tasked to an executive engineer who is also in charge of eight districts. And, the housing project for the slum-dwellers is suffering.

The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation, the state-level nodal agency for the Jn-NURM, is seeking its intervention to post superintendent engineer exclusively to take care of the housing projects for slum-dwellers. An additional executive engineer and two assistant executive engineers are also sought. The reason is that the team that is handing the job has not attended to projects that are worth few crores.

DC P Manivannan, who is Jn-NURM special officer, has approached the government arguing the case for additional manpower. He has written letters to the senior officials seeking them to help Mysore out of the mess. The city has failed to complete even one project. Seven projects are pending with the Union government and waiting for clearance. “Going by this phase, Mysore can never be able to complete the works undertaken. It will be a big loss for the city in case the funds are not utilized to put in place infrastructure to take the load,” a senior official explained to The Times of India.

What the official machinery is betting on is appointment of senior officials on temporary basis like four years to attend to the job and get done with it. Like posting of officials to take care of three different projects awarded to the MCC by the Union government including Rs 100 crore project to put in place storm water drain system and Rs 31-crore solid waste management project. These works are now taken care of by the superintendent engineer and assisted by an executive engineer, who also have to manage the city affairs. What the officials are looking for are posting of two executive engineers to manage the three projects taken up by the MCC. This can be done under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, the official stated.