Thiruvananthapuram: Three days ago when Congress MLA V D Satheesan first levelled a charge of corruption in the selection of a consultant for the implementation of AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) in the state, both Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Minister for Local Bodies A C Moideen had disdainfully brushed aside the charge.
However, on Thursday, after Satheesan raised the charges again, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said that the government would examine the complaints raised by Satheesan.
A C Moideen, who also present in the House, did not respond to the Congress leaders charges.
Satheesan charge, which he first raised on July 1, was that crores of consulting charges were showered on a private company named Ram Biologicals with no technical competence or experience in the field of liquid waste management. Ram Biologicals has been given the consultancy of 23 of the 137 liquid waste management projects in the state under AMRUT. He had also said that the technology used by the company, electrocoagulation, was not among the approved technologies for AMRUT.
Moideen had then said that over 300 plants across the country use the technology adopted by Ram Biologicals. According to him a high-power steering committee chaired by the chief secretary had visited a plant set up by the company in Hyderabad and had found the technology viable and efficient.
The minister had left three major questions unanswered. One, why was a company with no experience empanelled? Two, why was the CWRDM report rejected? Three, has the work on any of the 23 projects that have Ram Biologicals as consultant started?
Since Satheesan had raised the charges late in the day on July 1, during the discussion on supplementary demands for grants in the Budget, he was unable to grill the minister further.
The Congress leader did so on Thursday, while registering his dissent during the discussion on the Finance Bill 2019. Right at the outset, Satheesan said that he was not pointing fingers at A C Moideen. But he hinted that some powerful politicians and top bureucrats had put undue pressure on local bodies to pick Ram Biologicals as their consultant.
He also issued a warning to Moideen. "If the government is not willing to probe this matter, I will be forced to expand my corruption charge to include you," Satheesan said.
Nonetheless, he questioned the minister's earlier contention that electrocoagulation was used widely in the country. "This is not used anywhere in the country," Satheesan said.
"The technology is so impractical that despite repeated tenders no contractor has come forward to take up projects that has this company as the consultant," Satheesan said. Earlier in the day, Kerala Congress leader P J Joseph, too, had spoken about the reluctance of contractors to take up the septage works that had Ram Biologicals as consultant.
Satheesan said it was strange that a company that knows only to manufacture of kitchen bins and pipe compast was given the consultancy of a septage project. He alleged that tender guidelines were diluted to favour the company. "The stipulation that the bidder should have an experience of five years was whittled down to three. Another requirement was that the bidder should have the prior experience of having overseen a Rs 10-crore septage project. This was brought down to Rs 50 lakh," Satheesan said.
Moreover, Satheesan said an expert committee led by the highest expert in the field, the chief engineer, had filed a report saying that the technology was not feasible. This is not all, Satheesan said. "The Committee also wanted a new and reputed consultant or accredited agency to be appointed," he said.
The company had now been given the sanction to purchase an equipment costing Rs 9 lakh, Satheesan told the minister for local bodies. "I can buy you the same equipment, with the very same specifications, for just Rs 3 lakh from Coimbatore. Please check what your officers are doing," Satheesan said.
He said that the charges he had raised were just the "tip of the iceberg". "All the information about the agreement with Ram Biologicals have now been removed from both the Suchithwa Mission website and also from that of Ram Biologicals," Satheesan said and added: "Don't worry I have all the details with me."
On July 1, Satheesan told the Assembly that the treated water of a model plant Ram Biologicals had set up in Kannur was found to be unfit by a technical team constituted by Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM). "The effluent had a higher aluminium content than was permissible, and could cause neurological disorders like Alzheimer's and dementia" Satheesan had said.
