Documents that clearly show public sector organisations under the jurisdiction of Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan were instructed by the Minister’s office to pay for LED television sets given as gift to 140 MLAs were released here on Friday by Haritasena, a voluntary agency active in the field of rural development.
Releasing the documents at a press conference, Haritasena chairman V.T. Pradeepkumar and district unit president Johny Placcatt said the documents clearly proved false the claim of the Minister’s office that the 22-inch TV sets were donated by profit-making public sector organisations.
Letter released
They released a letter from the Minister’s private secretary asking the Managing Director of the Kerala Land Development Corporation, which had been in the red for the last five years, to pay Rs.51,428 to a TV dealer in Thiruvananthapuram towards the cost of four TV sets which were to be given as gifts to MLAs on Vishu day.
The letter also stated that the gifts were to be given to the legislators when a presentation on a new technology developed by the Kerala Agricultural University for commercial production of Neera was to be made before them on April 2, 2013.
Horticultural Corporation
The Horticultural Corporation, which had been making loss for the last four years, had given Rs.1,02,856 for TV sets.
Directing these agencies to pay for TV sets for legislators was an attempt to bribe elected representatives of the people and an indefensible gesture in a democracy, they said. In reply to a question raised by Mr. Pradeepkumar on this issue under the Right to Information Act, the Minister’s office said the TV sets were given only to MLAs and not to any officials.
