Wednesday, Jul 16, 2003
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Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram
By Our Special Correspondent
He made the charges in the State Assembly while participating in a discussion on demands for grants for the departments held by the two Ministers. He said favouritism and corruption were involved in the contract awarded to two private companies, Stark Communications and Multi Media, for carrying out publicity activities for Kerala's tourism industry. In 2001-02, the amount given to these companies came to Rs. 7 crores, the MLA alleged. Though the department's internal audit had brought out several anomalies in the execution of this contract, the same companies were entrusted with the tourism publicity in 2002-03 also, paying a still higher amount of Rs. 10 crores, Mr. Chenthamarakshan alleged. He said the Tourism Minister had undertaken several trips abroad along with his family. "Who shouldered the expenses of his family members,'' he asked. Another accusation was that Mr. Thomas had favoured Shirley Travels, a company floated by his wife, by hiring its vehicles for the Tourism Minister. "These vehicles were being frequently paid amounts exceeding Rs. 5,000 a day just for remaining at the airport waiting for VIPs,'' he alleged. Mr. Chenthamarakshan's allegation against Dr. Muneer related to his dual role as a Minister and the chairman of the newly-launched television channel, India Vision. He said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had brought out several irregularities in the contracts executed in the Public Works Department. One such irregularity related to the consultancy service sought from a foreign company, SMEC, for the Kerala State Transport Project being implemented with World Bank assistance at a cost of Rs. 1,600 crores. He said SMEC, which had quoted Rs. 9.18 crores for the service, was selected overlooking the claims of an Indian company called SPAN, which had quoted just Rs. 5.14 crores. This was done on the ground that the former was an internationally reputed company which could provide better technical expertise. Mr. Chenthamarakshan said the selection of this company was a clear case of corruption. ``The shadowy deals in the Public Works Department should be viewed in the context of Dr. Muneer's role as a key promoter of the new television channel,'' he said.
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