DINDIGUL: Going by data obtained through RTI applications by two social workers, TASMAC has incurred a total revenue loss of over Rs 300 crore in six years between 2010-11 and 2019-20. One of the reasons cited by audit reports is non recovery of misappropriated funds.
Social worker M Kasimayan in his RTI application dated July 5, 2021, sought details of procurement, sale, expenditure and profit/loss incurred by TASMAC between 2004 and 2021. “The response I received on August 16 lacked details for fiscal years 2009-10 and 2015-16, and suggested a revenue loss of Rs 244.82 crore for five years between 2010-11 and 2019-20. On September 20, I filed an appeal requesting for the missing data. There was no response. Then, I filed a second appeal on October 13 and am still awaiting a reply,” Kasimayan told TNIE.
Meanwhile, Kasimayan’s friend S Sivagnanam, from Palani, who is also a social worker, filed an RTI query on September 27 seeking specific details on revenue loss incurred by TASMAC between 2009-10 and 2020-21. The reply dated October 26 didn’t include details for the fiscal year 2009-10, and suggested a revenue loss of Rs 312.43 crore in six years. Further, it was stated that the details for 2020-21 were still being compiled.
TASMAC entered into the retail vending business at the end of 2003. In 2004-05, it made a profit of Rs 232.72 crore, the highest so far. The profit plummeted to Rs 1.43 crore the very next year. “How is that possible?,” asked Kasimayan.
The audit reports filed following September and November 2019 inspections at the TASMAC office in Chennai, by the accountant heneral, Tamil Nadu, cited various factors for the huge losses. Citing one such finding, Kasimayan said revenue loss due to misappropriation or shortage of cash amounted to Rs 9.24 crore (as on March 31, 2019) by shop supervisors and the staff working in 5,183 shops across the five regions in TN. While the losses incurred by Chennai, Madurai and Tiruchy regions this way amounted to Rs 3.9 crore, Rs 1.43 crore and Rs 1.11 crore respectively, Coimbatore and Salem regions recorded losses of Rs 75.8 lakh and Rs 47.22 lakh respectively.
TASMAC managing director L Subramanian has promised an inquiry into why details for a particular year were not provided in the RTI replies.
Audit findings (November 2019)
1 Absence of suitable clause in rental agreements resulted in extra expenditure of Rs 1.69 crore
2 Investment of surplus funds in fixed deposits, carrying lower interest rates, resulted in revenue loss of Rs 46.63 lakh
3 Non-recovery of misappropriated revenue amounted to Rs 9.24 crore
4 Non-allotment/non-award of ‘bar eatable’ license due to higher upset price resulted in a loss of Rs 49.02 crore
5 Long outstanding dues due to non-recovery of ‘bar eatable’ rent fees amounted to Rs 6.93 crore
6 Corpus fund for Self Insurance of Retail vending shops, non-settlement of pending insurance claim amounted to Rs 4.56 crore