Operation Breakthrough: delay in commencing work irks HC

District Collector ordered to clear pending bills of contractors

The Kerala High Court on Friday expressed displeasure over the delay in commencing the third phase of works under Operation Breakthrough, including the cleaning-up of the Perandoor canal in Kochi. Hearing a case pertaining to flooding in the city, Justice Devan Ramachandran took note of a report filed by the District Collector on the delay in starting the third phase of Operation Breakthrough and observed that the primary reason for the delay was that no contractor had responded to the tender notification for the proposed works. This was owing to the fact that contractors’ bills pertaining to completed projects had not been paid. The court, therefore, directed the District Collector to ensure that the bills for completed works under Phase-II of Operation Breakthrough were processed with the concurrence of the finance wing of the Operation Breakthrough team without waiting for the permission of the Chief Technical Examiner of the State government.