Sidhu objects to retd officer as head of water authority

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 16

Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has expressed his objection to the government move for constituting a Water Authority for Punjab, in case the post of its head is offered to any retired officer.

Attending the meeting of a specially appointed committee on Monday, Sidhu said, “Commissions and advisory bodies should not become resettlement avenues for retired officers when we have a team of serving officers dealing with the particular subject.” He had earlier raised objections to the move of instituting the Water Authority body in the Vidhan Sabha also, following which a committee, comprising Cabinet inisters Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Sarkaria, Sidhu and Razia Sultan, was constituted.

In the meeting, Sidhu did not take any specific name. However, reliable sources said, “The name of a Secretary in the Irrigation Department, who will retire in September this year, was being moved for the post. The officer is a part of the undergoing official deliberations on the subject too.”

Talking to The Tribune, Sidhu said, “I did not take any names at all. My only contention is that why should we oblige any retired officer? We have competent officers who specialise in their respective fields and they can handle the job. In case, need arises, the department can appoint a consultative firm specialising in the required area, instead of retired officers.”

Sidhu said, “The reports that we were given in the meetings were about the dark water zones in the state and related information. We already know about them. We told the officers that the committee should be informed about the options available to tackle the issues instead. Then we can decide on how we should be going ahead with the programme.”

“Accompanied by experts, we are going to Israel next month to study the working technologies on conservation of water there. The matter is important as is evident from the falling water levels.”

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Tript Rajinder Bajwa said “There was no clarity on the role of the proposed advisory body in the meeting, so any discussions on the subject were irrelevant. We have sought updated information on the subject with the possible future course of a workable action in our next meeting.”