Thiruvananthapuram: Agriculture minister V. S. Sunil Kumar conducted a lightning raid at Anayara World Market here after complaints of poor quality vegetables sold at Horticorp outlets. By late evening, the minister suspended Horticorp managing director M. Suresh Kumar and has entrusted agriculture secretary Raju Narayana Swamy to hold the additional charge. He has also ordered a vigilance enquiry in to the procurement and sale of vegetables by Horticorp.
A vegetable company, Kamaraj Vegetable Traders operating at Anayara World Trade Market had urged the agriculture department to pay them Rs 2.38 crore due to them triggering suspicion among agriculture ministry officials. This led the agriculture minister to conduct a lightning raid at Anayara World Market at 6 am on Thursday which caught the Horticorp officials by surprise. Vegetables from Tamil Nadu sold in the name of organic vegetables were seized by food safety officials.
The minister along with Raju Narayana Swamy reached the market early in the morning following longstanding complaints of inferior quality vegetables brought from Tamil Nadu instead of procuring directly from farmers.
The market was started with the intention of selling agricultural products of farmers. There have been widespread complaints against Horticorp’s top officials that they controlled everything here.
“Stern action would be taken against the responsible officials," Mr Kumar said. Agriculture department officials told DC that the minister and his entourage witnessed grave irregularities. He caught red-handed a goods auto from Tamil Nadu carrying vegetables. The modus operandi was that consignments arriving in big lorries from across the border would be shifted to small vehicles after reaching here.
CBI case against principal
The CBI has proceeded against a school principal in Kochi for allegedly swindling money on the pretext of paying remuneration to the invigilators appearing for the central board examinations. The CBI had conducted raids on the school in association with higher personnel from Kendriya Vidyalaya and seized various documents.
The principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Port Trust, is also facing charges of forgery and an FIR has been filed at the CBI court in Kochi under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The probe covers CBSE and UPSE board exams conducted at the school since 2014. The cheating is understood to have been carried out by inflating the number of invigilators for exams. It was also detected that the accused encashed cheques meant for invigilators in his personal account.
