G Sudhakaran boots out retired staff

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran has decided to terminate 40 retired engineers who are working in the Kerala Road Fund Board because they cannot be made accountable. The cabinet had decided on Wednesday to restructure the KRFB, a funding agency for the transport facility projects in the state. It was formed in 2001 to oversee and manage non-budgetary funds to develop and maintain roads and related infrastructure.

The cabinet decided to appoint a chief engineer along with other engineers and officials in the KRFB without any liability on the PWD. "The KRFB can appoint a CE and other officials. Forty retired officials, including a few surveyors, will be terminated and 61 new engineers in the department will be re-deployed. Another four officials will be appointed from outside," said Mr. Sudhakaran. The construction works coasting above Rs  10 crore will not be initiated by the PWD hereafter.

Currently, the KRFB has only a skeletal staff headed by chief executive officer P. C. Harikesh. The contract of KRFB advisor N. Sudarshanan Pillai and chief coordinator-cum-project engineer C. K. Rajendra Babu has not been extended. Mr N. Dushantha Kumar, project management advisor of Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) and Road Infrastructure Company Kerala Ltd, has also been terminated.  A Special Purpose Vehicle named RICK was incorporated in March 2012 with a paid up capital of Rs  5 lakh contributed by the previous UDF government (51 percent) and KRFB (49 percent). PWD officials told DC that the contract of 8-9 retired officials in the Kerala State Construction Corporation has not been extended.