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.
