Thiruvananthapuram: The long-running feud between the Power Department Additional Chief Secretary K R Jyothilal and the Kerala State Electricity Board Chairman Rajan Khobragade has escalated further with the former issuing a notice to the latter.
Power Minister K Krishnankutty has stepped in to resolve the cold war between the top bureaucrats by bringing the matter to the notice of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
In the notice served by K R Jyothilal, Khobragade has been directed to initiate action against those responsible for listing the three “unachievable” projects under the 100-day action plan of the State Government and intimate the government of the action taken.
The Chief Minister’s Office had issued directions many times to include only those projects in the action plan that could be implemented within the stipulated period. Based on it, as many as three review meetings were held to assess the progress of the projects.
With May 20 set as the deadline for completing the action plan, the Board Chairman has now informed that three projects — Pallivasal Extension Hydropower project, the 400 KV sub-station in Kottayam, and the Kollam-Kottiyam 120 KV sub-station — could not be completed within this period.
Four other directives
Alongside seeking action against the erring officials, the Board Chairman has also been issued four more instructions. As per this, the chairman is required to present at the next Board meeting the Memorandum of Understanding with the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation on the 11 gigawatt hydro-pumped storage projects and various other hydropower projects. The follow-up action on these projects, based on the report submitted by the delegation that visited Himachal Pradesh, too should be discussed during the meeting.
(Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) helps to store power. The Union Ministry of Power had recently issued draft guidelines on PSPs.)
The steps taken to revise the guidelines on civil tender submission and on the final report regarding the re-constitution of the Electricity Board too should be made available during the next Board meeting. With the Additional Chief secretary abstaining from the previous two Board meetings, no major decisions could be taken then.
Power Minister Krishnankutty is slated to take up all these issues with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during a meeting today.
