Delay in completing cabling works by a contractor playing truant over pending bills has held up the proposed shifting of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to the new building at Siddarthanagar.
Though a few departments have already moved into the new building, the core revenue section and crucial administrative departments coming directly under the Deputy Commissioner are yet to shift.
As of now, the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, District Statistical Office, and Muzrai Department are among the ones functioning out of the new building.
Sources told The Hindu that all the systems in the DC’s office are linked to State Wide Area Network (SWAN) of the government which is a closed user group, encrypted and fully secure.
But the cabling work pertaining to SWAN was getting delayed and the contractor was not meeting the deadlines. The internet cables of private players are not used given the associated risk of breach of data and other confidential information.
Though the work was supposed to be completed by November 15 to facilitate the complete shifting of the DC’s office, the SWAN cabling work remained unfinished and the deadline is set to lapse.
In the absence of SWAN, staff of the few departments which have already shifted to the new building are finding it difficult to log in to certain portals to carry out their routine duties and the works are getting delayed.
Sources said the entire project of completing the building and also the cabling was the responsibility of the PWD but issues relating to pending bills has led to the contractor dragging his feet on the issue.
SWAN links all government offices at the State, district and taluk and panchayat levels and enables inter-departmental and intra-departmental coordination through voice, video and data communication besides taking various government services to the citizens. In the absence of it, the shifting of DC’s office will serve no purpose and only affect the administrative work.
When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar said the issue has already been brought to the notice of the PWD which has been directed to expedite the work and he expressed confidence of it being finished at the earliest.
The present DC’s office is a heritage structure that is nearly 150 years old but is congested and cannot meet the modern-day requirements. Given the increase in office work and the number of departments attached to the district administration, there was little scope for expanding the heritage building.
Hence the State government approved the construction of the new DC office at Siddarthanagar which is on a 15-acre land and cost the government nearly ₹59 crore and it was inaugurated in March 2018. It is nearing two years but the swanky new building remains underutilised.
Published - November 14, 2019 10:27 pm IST
