Thiruvananthapuram: The only position, to which an official has been appointed, after an elaborate recruitment drive at Thiruvananthapuram Smart City Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), is manager (accounts). Reliable sources associated with the smart city project say that that there will be a re-notification for the positions of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), General Manager (GM) and Manager (Project Management). They say that the company is also considering the option of bringing government officials from other departments on deputation.
The committee was not happy with the candidates who turned up for the interview, according to sources. The ad for the positions was placed in a national daily, and announced through the smart city website. Still, not as many candidates with the required skill set turned up for the recruitment, according to officials.
Now smart city board meetings need to happen only once in three months. However since CEO M Beena is authorised by the board to take such decisions for the SPV, the re-notification will not have to wait for another board meeting. It is learnt that she will issue the order soon with the concurrence of the Chief Secretary.
Another position which remains vacant is Manager (IT). A top official said that since the SPV has an IT official, for the time being the project won’t suffer. The need for a Manager (IT) does not become urgent until later when some of the projects under the smart city umbrella is ready to be implemented. Until that time, in order to avoid a salary overload they have kept the recruitment to this position on hold.
The central government has not made it mandatory to appoint these officials to the SPV. However, the company wants to appoint a person to each of these positions as it will help roll out things more efficiently.
