KASARAGOD: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), the state government's agency to prevent corruption, has found that the Department of Agriculture has raised around Rs 5.52 lakh from farmers to cover up a loss it incurred by hosting an entertainment and flower show at Bekal.
During an inspection at the office of the Principal Agriculture Officer, the VACB officials found that the department through its 41 agriculture officers in the district collected Rs 500, Rs 1,500, and Rs 2,000 as membership fees for a horticulture society. "But the membership drive intended to pay off the debt the department incurred from organising the flower show," said an officer of VACB. It was a case of financial impropriety to raise money from farmers to pay off the debt incurred by the department, he said.
When contacted, principal agriculture officer Veena Rani R said it was a mess created by the then collector D Sajith Babu. In November 2019, he asked the department to organise a 'Bekal Festival' "to draw people to Bekal Fort" and make the place happening during the Christmas-New Year Season. But he did not set aside any money for the programme. "The collector said BRDC (Bekal Resorts Development Corporation) and DTPC (District Tourism Promotion Council) will pitch in with money. But that did not happen," said Veena Rani.
On Sajith Babu's advice, the department formed the Kasaragod Agri Horticorp Society to organise the 10-day Bekal Festival from December 23 to January 1.
The then collector Sajith Babu was the chairman of the society, the five MLAs and the MP were the patrons, and other members were the then principal agriculture officer, dean of the College of Agriculture, officials of BRDC, and a few deputy collectors.
At that time, no farmer was a member of the society, said Veena Rani, who took charge as principal agriculture officer later.
The Bekal Fest was a flop show. The contractor spent around Rs 5.5 lakh to set up stalls and tents and arrange sound and light, she said. "But we got only around Rs 20,000 from the ticket sales," she said.
At Rs 10 per ticket, only 2,000 persons turn up for the 10-day event. "It should have been a well-planned event but was organised in a rush," she said.
When the department did not pay the contractor, he moved the court. "When the contractor kept asking to clear his bills, we thought of organising a competition for farmers to raise money," she said.
The condition was that only members of the Kasaragod Agri Horticorp Society could participate, and membership came with a fee. "We raised around Rs 5.52 lakh from the farmers," she said.
The competition was in four categories: best landscape, best all-around farmer, best vegetable farmer, and a photography contest.
The winners of the four categories were given cash prizes. "We went to the farmers' fields to assess and so we did not incur any cost to organise the competition," Veena Rani said.
From the money raised, the department paid Rs 1.2 lakh to the contractor. It still owes Rs 4.3 lakh to him.
In December 2020, Sajith Babu asked the department to organise another Bekal Fest. "Fortunately, the meeting of the society lacked the quorum. Else we would have been in bigger debt," she said. "And the collector got a promotion and left the district."
Sub-head: 'No records of money collected'
"All these do not justify the department not maintaining the receipt book and cash book of the money collected," said VACB deputy superintendent of police (DySP) K V Venugopal.
The officer said 42 receipt books were printed at the Cooperative Press and they were distributed to the 42 Agriculture Officers to raise money. "Except for the Udma Agriculture Office, no other agriculture office returned the receipt book to the Principal Agriculture Office," said the DySP.
"Udma Agriculture Office collected around Rs 50,000 from farmers between 2019 to January 2021.
Receipt books were kept in all the village offices in the four taluk," said the DySP. Kasaragod, Kanhangad and Vellarikundu tahsildars returned the receipt books without collecting money.
Manjeshwar taluk has not yet returned the book. "So we don't know how much money was collected from there," he said.
After the VACB inspected the Principal Agriculture Office, Veena Rani has sent WhatsApp messages to all the agriculture officers to ready the receipt books and the cash books, said the DySP. "But again, membership fees cannot be used to pay off debt. It should be used only for the welfare of the farmers," said Venugopal.
He said he has sent his report to the VACB director in Thiruvananthapuram for departmental action.