The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Ready to face probe, says Joseph

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 02, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Ready to face probe, says Joseph

Special Correspondent

`Charges politically motivated'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Public Works Minister P. J. Joseph has termed `baseless' and `politically motivated' the charges levelled against him by the Congress leadership in connection with the implementation of the Maithri Housing Scheme of the Nayanar Government and utilisation of funds by the Federation of Indian Floriculturists led by him.

Participating in a Meet-the-Press programme here on Thursday, Mr. Joseph said there was no basis for the allegation that funds meant for the Maithri Housing Scheme was diverged for other purposes and had siphoned off Rs. 433 crores of the total outlay of Rs.712 crores for the scheme.

The fact was that the beneficiaries of the scheme received benefits totalling Rs.725.30 crores and the Kerala State Housing Board, the nodal agency that had implemented the scheme, had repaid Rs.606.16 crores to the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO).

This being the case, there was no basis for the allegation that he had siphoned off Rs.433 crores, but he was still ready to face a Vigilance inquiry into the issue, Mr. Joseph said.

The Housing Board, he pointed out, was a statutory board with executive powers, and as Housing Minister in the Nayanar Cabinet, he had no powers to intervene with its financial matters. Principal Secretary, Housing, had already communicated to the Government details regarding expenditure and there was no basis for the charge that funds meant for the scheme were diverted. The Housing Board does not have separate heads of accounts with banks for its various schemes. The entire income was put in the Board's account and spent.

The Board would have received only 12.5 per cent interest if it had put the Rs.217 crores received by way of annuity deposits with banks.

What the Board did instead was to repay loans that carried between 15 to 18 per cent interest and use the funds to complete work on revenue towers and flats, which would have otherwise necessitated availing of loans from HUDCO at 16 per cent interest. This had actually resulted in savings totalling Rs.6.51 crores, he said.

On the allegation relating to the Federation of Floriculturists, he said the organisation had submitted to the Government the accounts relating to the Rs.25.385 lakhs sanctioned to it by the Government during 1995-`96. The Inspection Wing of the Finance Department had examined the accounts and concluded that there was no irregularity in the implementation of the project.

During the second year, the Government had sanctioned Rs.20 lakhs for a market survey on floriculture.

Case filed

The Federation had assigned the job to the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI). When it failed to deliver despite repeated reminders, the Federation did the survey on its own and filed a case against TBGRI for breach of contract.

The Federation submitted the market survey report to the Government and the fund utilisation certificate to the Director of Agriculture in October 2005.

The charges relating to the Maithri Housing Scheme and the floriculture project were politically motivated. There was a clear attempt to mislead the Assembly committee that probed these issues, he said.

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