With the absence of a full-time Secretary troubling the Kochi Corporation for over a month now and the current Secretary in-charge recently being asked to go into quarantine, the civic body’s functioning has taken a hit.
Secretary in-charge K.P. Vinayan, who is also the Regional Joint Director, has written to the State government, asking for the Revenue Officer to be given additional charge as Corporation Secretary. Staff from the Department of Urban Affairs, who had participated in the process of picking reserved seats for the local body elections, had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 recently, necessitating that he go into quarantine, the letter says. The Additional Secretary of the corporation is set to retire soon and has gone on leave.
Deputy Mayor K.R. Premakumar said the situation had left the corporation without an official who is authorised to sign cheques to ensure payments are made. “For the new COVID first-line treatment centres being readied within the corporation limits, payments will have to be made from the civic body’s Plan Fund. But now, nobody is authorised to sign the bills,” he said.