THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the Managing Director Bhandari Swagat Ranveer Chand has gone abroad, the water authority's project activities are going out of order.

The MD left on September 15 to attend the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership & Excellence at Oxford University, London. She is scheduled to return on November 24. The trip is fully funded by the UK Commonwealth and Development Office.

Top officials admit that the absence of an MD has affected the supervision of project activities in the Water Authority, where activities worth Rs 40,000 crore are being carried out through Jaljeevan Mission, Amrit, KIIFB etc. Usually, the practice is to hand over the responsibility to the Joint Managing Director. Or the Water Authority Secretary will take charge of the MD on a temporary basis. However, the Public Administration Department has not specified who will be in charge instead in the order granting leave. The joint MD is also reluctant to take policy decisions as there is no delegation of responsibility.

Regular review meetings of Jaljeevan Mission project under the supervision of M.D. were also suspended. Only half of the project to bring drinking water to all rural houses by 2024 has been completed. The Association of Kerala Water Authority Officers has demanded that a new MD be appointed urgently or the charge be handed over to someone else.

Temporary technical member

A new person has not been appointed even four months after the retirement of the technical member who had important duties including approval of the projects. Now a retired person has been appointed on a temporary basis for six months.