Thiruvananthapuram: The accountant-general, in a draft report, has found serious lapses in the installation of solar panels at ports and offices of the ports department resulting in financial losses to the state government when the present vigilance director Jacob Thomas was the port’s director. The report, which comes after the financial inspection wing’s investigation, could create further trouble for Mr Jacob Thomas. The report has found irregularities at a time when both Mr Thomas and his successor Sheik Pareeth were heading the port.
Apart from the installation of solar panels, the report also pointed to series lapses during the purchase of cranes for Kollam and Azheekkal ports. The report also pointed out that the money meant for the Kodungalloor signal station was diverted. This was done without the prior sanction of the government. The delay on the part of the contractor to bring crane on time has resulted in a loss of Rs 90.59 lakh to the department, the draft report pointed out.
The decision to take mobile container cranes for the Azheekkal project had resulted in losses to the tune of Rs 63.82 lakh to the port’s department. The port department incurred a loss to the tune of Rs 57.12 lakh due to the failure to ensure the quality of the solar panels installed. The final report of the ports department will be taken after considered the reply from the ports department.
