Lack of coordination; Muziris project in limbo

KOCHI: The Muziris Heritage Project may be one of the most ambitious projects of the Kerala Government. But over the past few months, the crucial coordinating committees of the project have been remaining dysfunctional and key posts vacant. There are over 25 departments and agencies functioning under the banner of the Muziris Heritage Project. Owing to the vastness of this project these departments/agencies are in charge of a wide range of processes. From building roads to training local youth to conducting archaeological research, they are all bound together under the banner of the Muziris project. The coordination of all these agencies falls under the charge of the special officer. But in spite of the centrality of the special officer, the post has ben remaining vacant since May. As of now, the post comes under the additional charge of the Deputy Director of Tourism Department, Thrissur.“One of the weaknesses of this project is the centrality of the special officer. In order to make it more effective, we have to make sure that there are other stakeholders to monitor its working. It is with this idea that several coordinating committees have been formed,” a member involved with the  drafting of the project said. Tourism Minister A P Anilkumar told ‘Express,’ that the special officer was selected over a month ago. “The delay might be owing to the deputation procedures,” he said. Meanwhile, under a Government Order (MS) no. 225/09/tourism, the monitoring and coordination of this project is to be done by four coordination committees. The first in order is the coordination committee headed by the Tourism Minister with Ministers of Finance, Revenue, Fisheries, Local Self-Government, Education and Waterways as members. Not only has the committee not met after May but it has not even been reconstituted. During the tenure of the previous government, the time delay between the two meetings has never exceeded 2 months.The same is the case with the other committees. The ‘Monitoring Group’ is the next in the order. According to the aforementioned government order, this committee is supposed to meet once in month, submit a report on the progress of the project to the coordination committee and to submit to the coordinating committee issues unresolved by the monitoring group. This group too remains dysfunctional for months now.In the case of the co-ordination committee, the reconstitution remains even more crucial considering that several ministries which come under the committee have been reconstituted under the new government. For instance the Ministry of Local Self Governance has three ministers under the new government. Moreover, some of the ministries like Fisheries come under the additional charge of the Chief Minister. “We are in the processes of rethinking about the committees. We will look at newer committees. The new committees will be formed at the earliest. The UDF government is very serious about the Muziris Project,” Anil Kumar said.