Kerala: Planning department yet to plan transfer list

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The planning and economic affairs department  under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is yet to come out with the transfer list though several other departments such as health and rural development have done it and posted it  online. The final transfer list should have been ready by April 30.  The officials allege that nothing is happening in the department due to the heavy workload of the chief minister. There are two types of departments – vacation and non-vacation.  The schools and courts come under the former.

The planning and economic affairs department comes under the  planning board  headed by the CM himself and additional chief secretary (planning and economic affairs) V. S. Senthil, who is also the member secretary of Kerala State Planning Board. Department officials told DC that with more than a dozen portfolios coming under the CM, it is difficult for him to keep track of the matters. “Usually, preliminary level talks are held with the top department officials and accordingly a temporary list is put up. Only after the appeals are heard by the top officials concerned, the final transfer list is put online. But  this year, the preliminary talks are yet to be held,” said a senior  department official.

Its  main office  functions in the secretariat and its allied departments are Kerala State Planning Board, State Land Use Board and Economics and Statistics which  have a total of over 3,000 staff.  The chief minister’s private secretary, M. V. Jayarajan, told DC that since guidelines have been already set, it was  not a Herculean task to complete the transfer orders on time. “There are only a few staff working in the planning and economic affairs department. As per the existing norms, the transfer order will be set and released,”  said Mr Jayarajan, who obviously is ignorant of the total strength of the staff in the department.