Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Who is Tom Jose? Why is his letter to a fellow IAS creating a storm in Kerala

Tom Jose
A LETTER written by Tom Jose, a 1984 batch Kerala cadre IAS, to his senior IAS and Union urban development secretary Sudhir Krishna has created a political storm in Kerala last weekend. The letter dated September 26, 2012, which was made public by a CPI (M) Member of Parliament, has reportedly sought details about…
the role of former Delhi Metro chief and ex-railway officer E Sreedharan in the Kochi metro rail project. Sreedharan, 79-year-old engineer who is known as India’s metro man, made it very clear that he would take up the Rs 5,181-crore Kochi Metro only if Delhi Metro Rail Corporation implements the project. That made the state government’s earlier plan of getting an international bidding process aborted. The project is likely to be completed by 2016.
According to reports, urban development secretary Sudhir Krishna reportedly said in an internal board meeting that it would be difficult for the DMRC to take up the job in Kochi, which in other words means Sreedharan minus DMRC would be handicapped in executing the project on time. Urban development secretary is the ex-officio chairman of the metro projects including DMRC where the Central government has 50% share.
The opposition leaders in Kerala have now made it a political issue raising the question whether it was a ploy to keep the metro man away from the project. Some believe it could be the manifestation of anger of a few IAS officers who could not digest Sreedharan becoming synonymous with metro rail projects in India. Currently, some of the metro rail projects like Bangalore, Chennai and Jaipur are being headed by IAS officers.
Jose, who was the special officer and then MD of Kochi Metro Railway Project, is believed to be a big opponent of Sreedharan’s entry into Kochi project and taking away all the credits. A masters in business administration (MBA), Jose is currently the transport secretary in the state.
Between 2000 and 2004, Jose was a director in union defence ministry before leaving for Moscow to take up the post of counsellor in Indian embassy in Russia. Jose was stationed in Russia for three years.

8 comments:

  1. I don't always support IAS officers. But a number of IAS officers are technically sound to execute large infrastructure projects including metro rails. Why should everything be given to Sreedharan alone?

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    1. I hope you understand, why?, now

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  2. Why not make good use of Sreedharan's successful experience?
    After all any well meaning and public spirited officer would always like to have some one like Sreedharan on board for a metro project.
    You can't ask for a better person who executed tough projects in a sound, economical and timely manner. Today Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro are productive assets for their area of operation.
    Look at the plight of disjointed and confused Mumbai Metro being handled by Bureaucrat - Pvt sector combine in PPP for comparision with endless discussions and price escalations. Such projects will milk the Populace and enrich the Public and Pvt personalities involved in the PPP. I don't want to sound judgmental on this particular Officer as i hardly can know him. However, experience suggests that he is likely working as a proxy for some Politician/s and Cronies to ensure a meaty PPP at the cost of citizens.

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  3. If an IAS officer has a technical degree it doesn't mean he becomes an expert. If an IAS officer having MBBS degree has not practices medicine and worked as a Babu in the government then he cannot start practice as a Doctor after retirement. Therefore these IAS officers should not encroach upon the posts meant for technocrats. But unfortunately some corrupt self seeking IAS officers want to have it all i.e the powers of an IAS babu sans anonymity and the credit and lime light of a technocrat. God save this country from these venomous IAS babus.

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  4. Its high time the British way of administration is eliminated from India. Most of these present day cadres are nothing but memory wizards who are good for nothing socially. We need to have a system where rural experience and compulsory defense service too are made part of their training where by a semblance of commitment to the nation gets instilled. Most of them are self seekers and can not even accommodate a person of stature such as E.Sreedharan who right from the Pampan Bridge days of 60's has been serving the nation and its people with dedication.

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  5. Yes Sreedharan is good. Let me tell all of you something. A friend of mine (college friend) is an IAS officer and runs a major major department in a very big Indian city. He told me a few months back, that Project Management by his technical staff and the administrative staff is NIL. I asked him why? He said that these technical and admin staffs have no idea and are unwilling to learn and implement Project Management in the various infrastructure projects, his department executes, resulting in delays, cost over runs, poor and sub-standard quality, unreliable output, and high maintenance costs. This problem has to be removed not only from the system but our mindset requires major transformation.

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  6. Does the author of this article have a better person in mind than E. Sreedharan??? Idiot like this author are creating the unnecessary news of nothing and indirectly making E Sreedharan a Demi God, which Sreedharan himself never seeked... hahahaha!!!! it's a comedy or tragedy here....

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    1. mind your idiotic language hahahah

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