Kerala State Audit Department slams Science Park

Kochi: The Kerala State Audit Department (formerly Local Fund Audit Department) in its audit report for the year 2015-16 has come down heavily on the implementation of the children’s science city project under Kalamassery Municipality when Mr Jamal Manakkadan was the municipal chairman. The audit department report dated February 8, 2017 says that while the administrative sanction given for the project by the district collector allowed spending of Rs 1.90 crore, the project could not be fully implemented even after spending Rs 4.66 crore. Moreover, the project was limited to a science park.

The report also notes that since it is close to the Naval Armament Depot (NAD) its expansion also is not possible and since permission was not obtained from NAD and the Union Defence Ministry, the project had to be limited to setting up a thrillarium. The audit report notes that according to the project sanctioned, a sum of '1 crore was allocated from the MP fund of P Rajeev for setting up the thrillarium (8D theatre), Rs 40 lakh from the MP fund of Dr Ashok Ganguly for setting up a science and technology park and museum, Rs 18 lakh from the fund of H K Dua, MP, for setting up an exploratorium, lab and activity corner and an edusat smart classroom and the remaining Rs 41.12 lakh from municipality’s own fund.

However, when Thrissur corporation engineer gave technical sanction for the project, the total outlay was reduced to Rs 1.90 crore and limited to thrillarium construction. The audit report notes that the revised administrative sanction for the project by the district collector only mentioned change in the total outlay and not about limiting it to thrillarium. However, in implementation, only thrillarium was included. It is also noted that this is done when the MP funds were secured separately for each segment. Moreover, the amount of over Rs 2.10 crore was spent from the own funds of Kalamassery municipality for a project which was not beneficial for the entire populace. An additional Rs 50 lakh had to be spent by the municipality as BPCL provided only Rs 50 lakh instead of its promised Rs 1 crore.

The project could not be fully implemented as the necessary permission from the NAD could not be secured. NAD had objected to providing space for parking citing it as security threat which was ignored by the municipality. NAD had also warned of the hi-frequency radiation from its transmitting station which is harmful to health. The audit report has objected to giving institutional overhead charge to the implementing agency of the park, the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum (KSSTM). It has also pointed out that the running cost of the science park would cause a financial burden on the municipality as it comes to Rs 2.16 lakh, with 15 staff on daily wages. It also says that the thrillarium is not insured. Meanwhile it is learnt that a resident of Kalamassery has now approached the state Vigilance alleging corruption in the implementation of the project.