Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 7 (IANS) A turf war between two senior women IAS officers in Kerala’s Local Self-Government Department has cast a shadow over the government’s ambitious waste-free Kerala mission, with two separate programmes now being pursued for essentially the same goal.
The reported differences between Local Self-Government Department Secretary T.V. Anupama and Principal Director Dr Divya S. Iyer have resulted in the launch of the ‘Nirmalam’ campaign and the parallel ‘IC 100 Challenge’, exposing a sharp division at the top level.
‘Nirmalam’ was launched under Anupama’s leadership as part of the government’s 100-day action plan for a clean Kerala. The IC 100 Challenge focuses on identifying garbage-vulnerable points, cleaning them, and maintaining them waste-free for 100 days.
Sources said Divya had complained to the Local Self-Government Minister that she was not given adequate importance or a meaningful role in the Nirmalam programme. She is also understood to have raised concerns that major departmental decisions were being taken without consulting her.
The subsequent decision to roll out the IC 100 Challenge is viewed in official circles as an attempt to address her concerns and provide her with a distinct role in the waste management drive.
The move, however, has triggered another question within the department. Anupama, the departmental secretary, has reportedly been kept out of the new initiative.
The unusual arrangement has raised concerns about coordination, administrative resources and the implementation of waste management programmes through local bodies.
The Local Self-Government Department itself acknowledges the scale of the waste-management challenge and the need for coordination among various agencies and local governments.
Divya’s public profile also has a political dimension. She is married to K.S. Sabarinathan, a former two-term Congress MLA from Aruvikkara and presently a Thiruvananthapuram Corporation councillor.
Sabarinathan is the son of late Congress leader and former Assembly Speaker G. Karthikeyan. The couple married in 2017, when Sabarinathan was an MLA and Divya was a sub-collector.
The controversy has nevertheless forced political intervention, with efforts reportedly underway to resolve the differences and clearly demarcate the responsibilities of the two senior officers.
The immediate concern is whether the reported turf battle will affect coordination with local bodies at a time when the government has set an ambitious target of transforming Kerala into a zero waste state.
–IANS
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