MLAs blast Kollam collector for delay

Kollam: District collector T. Mitra has received flak from the people's representatives for the slow pace of  development works in the district.  There is laxity  by the district administration in sanctioning the  projects,  including those under the local funds of MPs and MLAs.   It is alleged that the district-level officers are sitting on files  and fail to submit them to the  administration complying with the guidelines and norms.  MLAs M. Naushad, G.S. Jayalal  and K.B. Ganesh Kumar had flayed the district collector on the matter during the district development committee meetings   in  January and February.

Earlier,  Mr Ganesh Kumar had said at a public meeting that  he had given a letter to the Assembly speaker to “oust the collector" who is giving scant regard to the directions from MLAs and ministers. He had alleged that the collector had  even refused to sanction funds allotted for drinking water distribution in the drought - affected district. The  administration sources said that  the district-level officers were  causing the delay in approving the funds.

“The officers who head various departments do not do their homework before passing on the files to the collector for approval. The files  that do not comply with the guidelines are returned for queries,” a source told DC. These files are not submitted after corrections. Instead, the officials   lobby with the politicians and blame the district collector  for the delay, it is said.