The delay in clearing arrears worth Rs.400 crore to suppliers of essentials and massive diversion of funds for non-starters have derailed the market intervention efforts of the Kerala State Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (Consumerfed).
A note furnished by Managing Director Tomin J. Thachankary to P.Venugopal, Principal Secretary, Cooperation, on May 29 lists a series of lapses that have brought the business activities to a standstill. “The financial position of the federation is deplorable,” the note says.
As many as 4,200 employees had been recruited on daily wages and management trainees on a temporary basis in violation of the directives of the Cooperative Registrar and the High Court.
Large-scale construction and renovation and modernisation works were executed disregarding legal formalities. Projects not under the ambit of the federation were initiated without feasibility studies and the federation was forced to relinquish them after substantial investments. The note had cited a number of such instances.
The Triveni bottled water plant proposed at Mayannur in Thrissur was given up after conducting soil testing before even getting legal possession of the land. The project for setting up the Triveni Institute of Retail Management was initiated in anticipation that the Idukki panchayat would provide land.
Following the delay in securing land, the federation struck an agreement with the KSEB for temporarily using its building at Idukki. The project did not materialise even after spending substantial sum on infrastructure.
Another project for setting up the Triveni Institute for Fruit Processing at Wadakkancherry too is in limbo. The same is the case of proposals for setting up a Neethi Medical Bhavan and a Triveni Tower at Idukki and also for opening two temperature-controlled warehouses at Wadakkancherry.
The Triveni Institute of Hardware Assembling at Haripad, Susrusha Clinic at Thrissur, and a wheat flour production unit proposed in Kollam are on the list of projects which never took off after major investments.
The note prepared after random inspections says that many of the grave irregularities which rocked the financial foundation of federation have not come under scrutiny so far. Official sources said that but for a major government support, reviving the market intervention initiatives would be daunting. Prior to that, the federation would have to clear the air and set a new milieu for starting the business afresh.
