THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 129 officers of Kerala Water Authority (KWA) have been transferred en masse citing lack of personnel for the activities of Jaljeevan Mission. With this, projects under Vascon, which is in charge of monitoring, planning and designing sewage projects, have come under crisis. Chief Engineer and Superintending Engineer have been transferred to project maintenance divisions.

The Swachh Bharat Mission-2 (SBM) project, which is being run in collaboration with local bodies without officers, has also fallen into disrepair. Rs 1039 crores project is being shared equally by the central and state governments. It was decided to make changes in 16 projects under the mission. The Office of the Chief Engineer, Water Authority has issued a letter to the Joint MD, stating that 58 of the redeployed officers should be immediately repatriated to carry out these works. However, only four officials, including the Assistant Executive Engineer, were released. In Rs 797 crore worth of projects in the Amrit scheme, the DPR cannot be prepared.

There are currently only two Assistant Executive Engineers in the Chief Engineer's office at Vascon. Earlier there were two more people, one was appointed as an executive engineer in the head office. The person who was appointed in his place was on leave for two months. The second person was transferred to the same post in Kayamkulam. The post of Superintending Engineer in charge of sewage circle in Thiruvananthapuram is lying vacant for three months. The post of executive engineer has also been vacant for two weeks.