Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

`Graft in hiring taxis for VVIPs'

Staff Reporter

Four tourism officials accused

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government's Finance Inspection Wing has reported serious corruption in the allotment of Tourism Department vehicles and hiring of private taxis for dignitaries visiting Kerala. It has recommended the suspension of four Tourism Department officials alleged to be responsible for the irregularities.

They are Rajagopal, Joint Director; Stanley D'Couta, Deputy Director; K. Muralidharan Nair, Superintendent (A-section); and K. V. Krishnan, Upper Division Clerk. The Wing also asked the State Government to blacklist T.K.A. Tours and Travelling Company, Thycaud, and to ban it from executing any agreement with the Government.

Finance Minister T. M. Thomas Isaac had ordered the unit to conduct a surprise check at the Tourism Garage, which is responsible for providing Government as well as private vehicles for VIP duty. The Minister had ordered the inquiry after the convoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got stuck for three minutes at a traffic point in the city on the night of November 1, raising public concern about his security in Kerala.

The Prime Minister was on his way to the Raj Bhavan from the international airport when the vehicle leading the convoy took a wrong turn at the Asan Square in front of the MLAs' Hostel at Palayam around 10 p.m. The pilot car was a private vehicle hired by the Tourism Department for VVIP duty and it was driven by a person with little experience in guiding VVIP convoys.

The Finance Inspection Wing's report to the Government said that the Tourism Department had invited tenders for hiring vehicles from travel agencies in November 2005. Three firms submitted tenders, out of which two were "found to be non-existent". The contract was awarded to M/s T.K.A. Tours. The report alleged that an employee of T.K.A. Tours was mentioned as proprietor in one of the tenders submitted by a "non-existent" travel agency.

The wing also reported several instances of unauthorised trips by Government chauffeurs, exaggerating the distance travelled in trip sheets to account for fuel theft, fraudulent entries in log books and also movement registers. The unit said in its report that the Tourism Garage was managed in an "inefficient and uneconomic" manner. It has recommended a new set of vehicles manned by trained police drivers for VVIP security in the future.

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