KOCHI: The CPM-led governing council of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has alleged the GCDA incurred a huge loss during the previous regime, due to implementation of non-viable projects and misappropriation in land sales.
Releasing a white paper on the financial mismanagement, GCDA chairman N C Mohanan on Monday said projects like ‘cage fish farming’ and ‘laser show’ caused substantial loss to the GCDA.
“The laser project set up at a cost of `4.1 crore generated a revenue of only `29 lakh in two years, much lower than the estimated `3.6 crore. The cumulative revenue from the cage farming project is a meager `4.75 lakh, while the project cost is `4.6 crore,” said Mohanan.
According to him, the previous council led by the UDF sold a GCDA land at Kakkanad for `2 lakh, while its fair value and the market value were `7 lakh and `40 lakh respectively. Former chairman N Venugopal and the governing council cannot escape from the responsibility of the loss,” he said.
The present governing council has decided to seek intervention of the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB), Revenue Department and the state government to bring to book those responsible.
“We will form an advocates panel and a special squad to initiate a probe into the financial misappropriation and to recover the properties,” said the chairman, and alleged the vegetable cultivation initiative by the previous regime was an utter failure.
When contacted, N Venugopal refuted the allegations.
According to him, the land deals by the GCDA over the last 40 years should be investigated. “The allegations are baseless. The laser show and the cage fish farming project were not launched for profit. They are tourism-related projects, and it is the responsibility of the present governing council to run them,” he said.