Political crisis brings Tamil Nadu admin to standstill

Chennai: State administrators, mostly in finance and revenue department, are now under severe stress unable to process or clear government files due to the current political crisis.

With budget session approaching, files are getting accumulated and key posts headed by several IAS officers have been vacant for over two months adding to the administrative mess. At present, at least eight IAS posts are lying vacant in the secretariat.

According to a highly placed official, administrative files have piled up to a large extent and payments in all local bodies are pending for the past four months.

There are 12 corporations in Tamil Nadu and in case of tier one cities a civic corporation needs at least an additional revenue of Rs 40-50 crore to maintain the existing infrastructure.

In several corporations, officials have diverted project funds for paying salaries and to run the operations. This had resulted in pending bills running in to several crores, the official said. The informed official also said that the post of vice chancellors could be filed only if the government becomes stable.

Under the current scenario the officials are unable to execute the policies announced in the last interim budget and now with the new fiscal approaching a plenty of works has to be completed, the official said. According to another senior official, in the past one month there have been no government functions and scheme inaugurals. Several buildings constructed by the district administrations are now awaiting inaugurals.

However, routine works are executed as the office of chief secretary is active and the district collectors have been instructed to assess the drought situation. A few GOs promising relief for farmers had also been passed, sources added.