No gold lost from Sabari, says TDB prez

Thiruvananthapuram: Travancore Devaswom Board president A. Padmakumar has said neither gold nor silver were lost from Sabarimala as per the Sabarimala executive officer R. Ravisankar.  At a press meet held at the TDB headquarters here, Padmakumar said the news coming out on gold and silver being lost is baseless.

He said that there should be clarity on lots of issues including properties other than gold and silver. Padmakumar informed that steps have been initiated to take back the immovable properties which are in the possession of private parties. The serious lapse has been committed allegedly by a retired official of TDB, G. Mohanan who was the former grade one accountant in 2016.

“Mohan also was not ready to handover the charge. This happened during the tenure of former president Prayar Gopalakrishnan. If an official is found to have committed some form of irregularity, he or she should not be absolved of the offence charges after the guilty pays back mon-ey for the loss. Instead, criminal action should be taken against the guilty”, said Padmakumar.

Pensions of former officials of TDB had to be withheld as they were not ready to handover the charges.

He also informed that in the strong room near Aranmula, as many as 10,413 properties are being preserved. He also informed that he got calls from neighbouring states like Andhra and Karnataka, asking him whether any sovereign of gold or silver was lost.