THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hardly a month after an event-free inauguration of KTDC’s premium property `Golden Peak’ at Ponmudi, KTDC Chairman Cheriyan Philip has put the Tourism Department in the dock by calling for a vigilance probe into the construction of 13 pinewood cottages at Ponmudi.
The KTDC Chairman’s move has caught the Tourism Department unawares. ``I have no idea what the immediate provocation is,’’ Tourism Director M. Shivshankar told Expresso.
The KTDC Chairman has sent a memorandum to Home and Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan seeking a vigilance probe. Incidentally, it was Kodiyeri who had inaugurated the Golden Peak on September 15.
The 13 pinewood-walled cottages in question were constructed by the Tourism Department, with Central assistance, between 2003 and 2005 for Rs 1.17 crore. The construction was carried out by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). “Though the work was completed in 2005, the cottages were unfit for use and so remained shut,’’ Cheriyan Philip said. It was on December 17, 2007, that the Tourism Department handed over the cottages to the KTDC.
The KTDC, within five days of its takeover, discovered serious faults in the cottages. “The engineering wing of the KTDC that inspected the cottages on December 22, five days after the KTDC took charge of the property, found insufficiencies in their construction. We had given this in writing to the Tourism Department,’’ the KTDC Chairman told Expresso.
The Tourism Director admitted that the cottages had structural faults.
``There definitely was a quality issue and we had promptly asked the CPWD to rectify it at the earliest. Earlier, when the floor of the Boat Terminal Complex built by the CPWD at Aluva had caved in, we had asked them to make amends and they did it promptly and without charging extra,’’ Shivshankar said.
“In Ponmudi’s case, we were even more purposeful. We told the CPWD that we would go for a vigilance probe if corrective action was not taken. And the decision was conveyed to the KTDC. This being the case, I have no idea what the immediate provocation is,’’ the Tourism Director added.
The KTDC Chairman said it was unfair to say that he popped up the issue all of a sudden. He said he had raised the issue even during the inauguration of the Golden Peak last September, in the presence of the Tourism Minister, Tourism Secretary and Tourism Director.
“On that day, I told the Minister that something has to be done about the cottages. I pointed out that the wooden walls were decayed and the roofs were leaking,’’ Cheriyan Philip said. KTDC’s Golden Peak could attract customers in a big way only if the cottages are operational, he added.
The KTDC’s aggressive stance is also seen as the after-effect of the Thekkady boat tragedy. ``Now the entire blame for the tragedy is heaped on the KTDC. Everyone seems to have ignored the fact that the boat involved in the tragedy was purchased by the Tourism Department and not the KTDC. So, it would be in the fitness of things if certain facts, like the state of the Ponmudi cottages, are put on record,’’ a top source said.
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