Kerala   

KSBC suspends six employees

Staff Reporter

On the charge of cheating customers

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC) has suspended six employees working at its three liquor retail outlets on the charge of overcharging and cheating customers.

Jayakumar Nair, the leader of the CITU-affiliated KSBC workers union, is among the suspended employees.

On Tuesday morning, less than 30 KSBC employees staged a dharna against the suspension in front of the KSBC Managing Director's office. V. Sivankutty, MLA, inaugurated the dharna.

Several complaints

The Corporation had received several complaints accusing employees at certain retail outlets of fleecing customers.

The Corporation engaged decoy consumers to verify the truth. At one outlet in Anchal, the decoy customer had to pay Rs.298 for a particular brand of liquor costing Rs.259, an official said.

KSBC Managing Director N. Sankar Reddy ordered a surprise inspection of the `suspect' outlets at Pazhavangadi, Sreekariyam and Anchal. The inspection team found one employee at Sreekariyam carrying an excess amount of Rs.2000. (KSBC employees at liquor retail outlets are supposed to declare the money they carry when reporting for duty).

Money confiscated

At the Pazhavangadi outlet, an unaccounted sum of Rs.4000 was confiscated from another employee. Jayakumar Nair, who was at the counter during inspection, allegedly refused to cooperate with the inspection team.

He allegedly threatened the inspectors, ran out of the outlet and returned for duty only later.

The KSBC is likely to refer the cases to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau after a detailed investigation, a senior official said.

Confusion exploited

He said the `errant' employees exploited the confusion prevailing after the revision of liquor prices on April 1. He urged customers to go by the new liquor price list exhibited in front of the outlets.

He said the Corporation was yet to entirely sell the liquor stock procured before the price revision.

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