Public loot: How government plunders state

KOCHI: The report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General on the Vizhinjam port project has generated the usual sound and fury in prime-time obfuscation that goes in the name of discussions in the television news channels before fading away into oblivion. Vizhinjam project is yet another a glaring example of those entrusted with safeguarding the public interest proving utterly incapable of being so. Unfortunately, Vizhinjam is not an exception but a rule in the governance culture prevailing in the state for many years.

The sordid history of three textile mills set up with the combined investment of nearly Rs 100 crore at Pinarayi in Kannur, Uduma in Kasargod and Komalapuram in Alapuzha districts in 2011 shows how the government in the state squanders public funds without qualms. The information accessed by RTI activist N.S. Alexander on the present status of the three textiles mills set up in 2011 shows that none of them is a functional mode now. The Komalapuram Spinning and Weaving Mills, inaugurated on February 2, 2011 started production in June 2016, more than five years after inauguration. The Uduma Textile Mills at Kasargod, inaugurated on January 27, 2011 has not commenced production so far, while Hi-tech Weaving Mills at Pinarayi in Kannur was not even inaugurated despite the completion of the work in February 2012.

"The sad plight of the three textile mills shows the callousness with which the government functions in the state," said Mr Alexander. "An amount of Rs 100 crore is not a joke in a state like Kerala, always struggling for an investment surplus. A major infrastructure project such as the railway over bridge in Pachalam near Ernakulam was only Rs 35 or Rs 36 crore." The report by Comptroller and Auditor-General in connection with the setting up of the three textile mills is a candid documentation of the complete disregard shown by the government for propriety while taking investment decisions, he pointed out. The CAG report in 2014 had listed the failings from the stage of planning to the completion of the projects.

The CAG report has pinpointed that the project was conceived without taking into account the objectives and even a market research. The total project cost was not even properly estimated by the industries department while going ahead with the project. The implementation of the project was handed over to Kerala Spinners Ltd (KSL) which had the dubious history for making loses in succession. Apart from lack of planning, market research and other failings, the CAG report has also pointed out that the timeframe for the completion of the project was not in accordance with the project report.

The industries department had fixed the timeframe for the completion of the project in December while the DPR was prepared only in July. On the basis of this KSL has given the contractors just four months for the completion of the civil works connected with the project. "This was a completely unrealistic timeframe," the CAG report said. The 12-15 month timeframe sought by the makers of plant and machinery and 13-14 months taken for the completion of the civil works show that the timeframe fixed by the promoters of the venture were not based on the requirements for such a venture. The CAG has also pointed out procedural violations such as declaring an already existing project as a green-field project referring to the maneuverings undertaken for engaging KSL for implementing the project. KSL has been roped in for the project while the company was under control of Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The 12-pages in the CAG report dealing with the three textile firms can be taken as a testimony for how public fund should not be used in such a wanton manner. The government may have decided to go in for a judicial probe into the Vizhinjam deal but many others which plunder the state exchequer like these projects go unnoticed, even as those at the helm would plan for more.