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Alleged nepotism within this D & I Dept. is totally mischievous
DEAR EDITOR,
It was reported in the last statutory meeting that senior officials of the D & I Department in Region No. 2 have been unethical and unjust in their awarding of contracts to trench cleaners. It was claimed that contracts were terminated and given to friends and relatives of senior officials of the D & I Department. Below, I give some major concerns of the above article.
It was said that contracts were terminated. I must mention that as at December of the lunar year, all contracts cease to exist, and there is no arrangement for continuity. It was not correct to say that contracts were taken away.
In assessing persons for contracts, the following consideration must be given attention. Have the contractors been cleaning trenches according to specification? A certain distance of the parapets are to be weeded. Some contractors do not abide by this regulation, even though they were warned. In this case, you get people who can do the work according to terms in the contract.
Mention was made of payment for work. All trenches are not the same; some trenches grow weed more profusely than others. Hence, the amount of work that has to be done will determine the pay per rod. Some trenches are easier to clean and so the amount paid would be less.
Defrauding the region is another area where contractors are found guilty. For the past administration, many notes were written by senior officials advising payment to be made where the work was not completed. Many times when payments were made the work was not properly done and sometimes not done at all.
Finally, I would like to mention that spraying of trenches is not allowed.
At the back of Dartmouth Village in the main canal construction by an English company in the 1960s, a stretch of three miles running into the Better Success area is sprayed. When this is done, for five months you don’t have to clean. Simultaneously, the weed is killed right down to the root, and because this is high-flow, canal erosion takes place at the edge of the parapets. I hope the regional administration would take note, and make the correct decision to arrest this unscrupulous tendency.
In the past, I was a member of the Regional Administration and was always appalled at the low level of discussion and decisions, which follow. I thought they were transformed. However, with the discussion of this matter, I regret to admit that they are of the same status.
Over the past three years, the boys in the D & I Department have done reasonably well. The drainage in the villages has been averting a lot of flooding. Constantly, when the need arises they always have the pump in operation. All kokers and sluices have been given attention. Access roads to farmers have been worked on. The main canal after many years of neglect has been repaired, so that today, you can ride for distances on it. The cleaning of trenches and the recommendation for improvement is now engaging their attention.
Nazir Mohamed
Region # 2
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