THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘Operation Dew Drops’, the state-wide anti-corruption operation carried out by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in 70 sub-divisional offices of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on July 20 might have unearthed corruption amounting to crores of rupees in hiring ‘hand receipt’ (HR) employees (casual employees engaged through contractors) in the technical wing of the KWA. But the flip side of the issue is that HR employees have become a necessary evil for the KWA. Necessary because, until the sanctioned posts are filled, the KWA will have to depend on HR hands for carrying out its daily activities. Evil because, almost all HR appointments are based on political recommendations and throwing them out would invite serious consequences. “We know that the HR hands are a huge liability for the KWA. But, the only way out is to fill the sanctioned posts with permanent employees, which the management has to do,’’ said a senior official of the KWA. In fact, when K Jayakumar, the present Home Secretary, was the Principal Secretary in the Water Resources Department, directives were issued to rein in the practice of keeping HR. But it didn’t last for even one month, a source with the KWA said. A significant aspect is that the raids coincided with the inspection being carried out by the Internal Audit wing of the KWA in the Central Sub-Division of the Thiruvananthapuram PH Division of the KWA following complaints about corruption involving HRs. It was the All-Kerala Water Authority Contractors’ Association which filed a complaint with the VACB regarding this. The complaint, dated February 21, 2011, and signed by Rajappan Nair A, working president of the Association and Sidhardhan M, general secretary, had stated that illegal transactions to the tune of nearly Rs 10 lakh were carried out. The complaint also said that the names of those contractors who refused to comply with the same were removed from the M-book (Member book) and bills and were converted into the name of another contractor, Ranjumon V V. A letter, dated March 9, 2011, to this effect was issued by the VACB to the KWA MD to take further action. Following that, the KWA Accounts Member issued directives to the Internal Audit wing to look into the matter and submit a report. The inspection by the wing started last week and the VACB raids coincided with the same. But the whole issue has another side to it. It is reliably learnt that the root of the above-mentioned complaint lies with the launch of Blue Brigade in 2009. The formation of Blue Brigade or the 24x7 helpline wing of the KWA to plug leaks, had irked the Running Contractors (RC). As per the KWA Board decision, if the RCs fail to execute the work within 48 hours, the rectification work would be carried out through the Blue Brigade. And if the Blue Brigade executes more than 10 rectification works within the area of an RC, the contract shall be terminated, the maintenance work rearranged and the concerned RC shall be debarred from taking works of the KWA for at least two years. The monitoring of the RCs was done by the HRs in the Blue Brigade. Naturally, the RCs were unhappy and they didn’t pass their bills. When this continued, an official with the central sub-division issued the bill in the name of another contractor (Ranjumon V V) who is not a member of the Contractors’ Association (This official has gone abroad availing of LWA). That was the reason why the Association gave a complaint to the VACB, said a top KWA official on condition of anonymity.
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