Kerala Books and Publications Society opposes pvt entry into lottery

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government’s move to rope in a private entity with a minority stake for SIDCO to augment the printing of lottery tickets has triggered a backlash from Kerala Books and Publications Society, which along with C-apt now prints the tickets.

“The contention given in the government order that KBPS is unable to cope with the full requirement of lottery printing is factually incorrect,” KBPS managing director Tomin J Thachankary said.

The new company, Kerala SIDCO Hitech Security Printing Solutions Private Ltd, was identified on the grounds that KBPS would not be able to handle the increase in the printing order that would be necessitated by the introduction of a new lottery, Sthree Shakthi.

“It had been noticed that KBPS and C-apt are unable to cope with the full requirement of lottery printing, resulting in delay in supply of the printed lotteries as against the requirement of supply, 21 days prior to the draw of the daily lottery,” the GO said.

For this reason, the GO said that there was an “urgent necessity” to augment the printing capacity so that there would not be any disruption in timely printing and supply.

Mr Thachankary said that the state had not considered the Society’s repeated offers to enhance its capacity even though it had never failed in its printing and delivery targets. Further, he charged that Kerala SIDCO Hitech Printing Solutions had not undertaken any security printing works of such crucial importance.