Hyderabad: Two senior officials of the Hyderabad Water Supply and Sewerage Board continue in their posts despite having reached retirement age. The tenures of the training and secondary transmission director and the revenue director of the Board ended on July 31 this year. The state government has not issued any extension order, but the two continue to work without salaries, but enjoy the perks of permanent employees, including residential quarters and cars.
According to highly placed sources, the tenure of P.S. Satyanarayana and B. Vijay Kumar Reddy ended in July 2018 but they got an extension from the government to continue for one more year, till July 2019.
They both wrote to the government for a further extension of their services, but were rejected. Mr Satyanaraya has been residing in Manjira guest house where the rent is Rs 2 lakh per month. He had requested the former managing director of the Board, M. Jagadeeshwar, to allocate him the Manjira guest house way back in 2009, claiming that his house had been inundated during the monsoon. He made it his permanent residence, enjoying a government asset free of cost to himself.
Mr Vijay Kumar Reddy on behalf of the Jalamandali Engineering Association, had agitated against M. Konda Reddy, director (projects), in 2017 for getting an extension of service. He had held press meets and said that Mr Konda Reddy’s service extension would affect the promotions of employees who had served the water board for 30 years. However, when it came to his turn, Mr Vijay Kumar Reddy got extension orders from the government immediately after he was due to retire and continues in service even after his extension term has expired.
Sources said that there are allegations of corruption against both officers. Even after completing the Rs 1,200 crore Hudco project, the Malkajgiri projects, the pipeline projects in Rajendernagar and Serilingampally, the water board’s revenue has not increased.
Water Board officials have been asking how despite the increase in the number of water connections and executing projects worth about `3,000 crore, there has been no increase in revenue. There is also the question of how the two men can continue in service on the oral orders of the MD when the government has rejected extension of service for both?
Hari Shankar, chairman, Jalamandali Engineers Association, laments that instead of strengthening the system, officials in the water board have made it individual-centric. He says the HMWS&SB has very talented engineers from IITs who are next in line to fill the vacant posts and has urged the government to look into the issue otherwise several deserving employees will suffer injustice.
According to water board officials, the managing director on Thursday issued orders to cut off power to the residence of the revenue director Vijay Kumar Reddy. However, the latter did not vacate his chambers and continues with his perks.
