Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Wednesday used the occasion of signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to execute government programmes, including the procurement of sewer cleaning equipment, reiterating his charge about officials’ non-cooperation in the implementation of schemes.
“Signing of agreements will not serve the purpose. The officials have to work for speedy implementation of the schemes. I have been raising the issue of lack of effort from officials to implement programmes, but the attitude of certain officers has not changed,” the Chief Minister said, while sharing the dais with Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajanat the inaugural of government initiatives.
Addressing the gathering in the presence of Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma, Secretary, Public Works, D. Manikandan and other officials at Kamaraj Manimandapam, the venue of the event, the Chief Minister said it takes several days to even restore a damaged road or get a minor civil work done.
“Yesterday, I was having a discussion on setting up of a desalination plant near Old Port Complex. The plant is needed to address the growing drinking water requirement of the town. But the Secretary, who handles the subject of drinking water supply, seemed to not pay attention. One should see the condition of the Bharati Park, which is just opposite to the Legislative Assembly, to understand how the official machinery works. No maintenance of the park has been done. The government can only evolve schemes but it is up to the officials to implement the projects,” the Chief Minister said.
On the procurement of sewer cleaning machines, the Chief Minister said that for a long time, the government had wanted to buy equipment to handle sewage. “The PWD was asked to purchase the equipment long ago. The MoU was signed only now,” he said.
Speed up implementation of govt. projects
Speaking after Mr. Rangasamy’s address, the Lt. Governor said the Chief Secretary was advised to coordinate with Secretaries and other officials to speed up implementation of government projects. “The Chief Minister was expressing his concern. I have advised the Chief Secretary to address the issues at the earliest. If delay is caused in implementing a programme, even after setting deadline, the Chief Secretary should get explanation from the concerned officer,” the Lt. Governor said.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for rolling out Swachh Bharat Mission, the Lt. Governor said mechanisation of sewer cleaning was part of the Prime Minister’s Swachh programme. “The PM wanted to stop manual cleaning of sewer lines. We have to respect the conservancy workers,” she said.
Two conservancy workers, who were seated next to her on the dais, were also honoured by the Lt. Governor. Speaker R. Selvam and Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan were present.
Earlier, officials of PWD entered into an agreement with National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation to buy sewer jetting equipment. Department of Information Technology also signed an agreement with HDFC bank on Sharing Management Software and Application.
At the event, the government also released a notification for reuse of treated effluent water and launched an online tourism information system.
Published - December 20, 2023 11:09 pm IST
