As many as 115 working public sector undertakings (PSU) in the State incurred an aggregate loss of ₹ 1,833.17crore, the Comptroller and Auditor General has said.
According to the CAG report on the State PSUs for 2016-17 tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, the 115 working PSUs, including 111 companies and four statutory corporations and 15 non-working PSUs with an investment of ₹111.65 crore had 1.19 lakh employees.
Non-functional units
The 15 units had been remaining non-functional for the past 11 to 33 years. This was a critical area as the investments in these units did not contribute to the economic growth of the State.
The procurement and tendering processes of Malabar Cements Limited also drew flak of the auditors. The company did not update its purchase policy and procedures in tune with the revised Stores Purchase Manual and also did not fix any time frame for procurement.
It did not comply with manual provisions on e-tender, fixation of validity of tender, splitting of purchase orders and collection of earnest money deposit.
It also failed to collect security deposit and levy liquidated damages as prescribed by the manual. Procurement of coal without exercising quality checks incurred extra expenditure and non-compliance of Bureau of Indian Standards norms in production led to production loss.
The Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited incurred an extra expenditure of ₹ 41.20 lakh in the procurement of paper packing bags due to limiting the order quantity of the lowest bidder while procuring at higher rates from other bidders.
