Comments
A CAG report has confirmed that the State monopoly liquor vendor Beverages Corporation (Bevco) continues to be a source of quick and easy money to the State coffers.
Of the 78 public sector undertakings that had finalised their accounts during 2013-14, Bevco recorded a profit of ₹144.28 crore, the highest.
KSFE is secondIt left Kerala State Financial Enterprises (largest chit funds player) a distant second at ₹72.75 crore. Kerala Financial Corporation, the State financial corporation, came in third with ₹50.16 crore.
The industrial sector came fourth, with Kerala Minerals and Metals (₹14.11 crore); Malabar Cements (₹21.37 crore); and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (₹18.97 crore) in that order.
Kerala State Electricity Board chipped in with ₹140.42 crore in compliance with the requirements of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission but its operations actually resulted in a loss of ₹707.87 crore.
Major deficienciesThe CAG report on public sector undertakings for the year ending March 31, 2014, was laid on the table in the State Assembly on Monday. It picked out major deficiencies in the performance audit of Travancore Titanium Products during a five-year period from 2009-10 to 2013-14.
The performance of the company varied widely from profit, before suffering successive dents in the figure before progressively slipping into the red in 2013-14.
A failure to ensure maximum procurement of ilmenite from Indian Rare Earths, excess procurement of inferior ilmenite from private sources and system lapses have led to high raw material costs. The report faulted the company for poor marketing effort, defective pricing, ineffective stockist network and irrational discounts.
Electricity boardDeficiencies in the conceptualisation and implementation of the effluent treatment plant contributed to its failure and a consequent loss of ₹58.45 crore.
At Kerala State Electricity Board, the audit showed deficiencies in registration of consumers in the computerised LT billing system. Non-mapping of business rules had created its own problems in the system resulting in collections running short by ₹1.69 crore.
The company failed to collect interest at twice the bank rate for instalments allowed, resulting in loss of another ₹50 lakh. Interest payable on security deposit was worked out at lesser than bank rate resulting in short payments of ₹12.54 crore for year 2012-13.
Project delayedKerala Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (Kinfra) had incurred excess expenditure of ₹20.10 crore by delaying a detailed report on the Textile Centres Infrastructure Development Scheme, which had also been moved from a site originally intended.
Transformers and Electricals Kerala saw cost of production going up due to deficiencies in procurement of raw materials and payment of unproductive wages.
Failure of Malabar Cements to remit the deferred tax on due date despite having surplus funds resulted in avoidable payment of interest amounting to ₹2.84 crore.
The audit report faulted Kerala State Road Transport Corporation for poor implementation and irregular release of retention money with respect to five shopping complexes in different parts of the State.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.