Private billing machines used to siphon tourist fees at Illikkal Kallu, probe ordered

Kottayam: A suspected entry fee scam using privately operated billing machines at Illikkal Kallu has put the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) in the dock, with the state government ordering an inquiry into three employees amid allegations of a cover-up.

The inquiry follows allegations that employees posted at the tourist destination purchased private billing machines and used them to collect entry fees from visitors instead of the official machines issued by the DTPC. The practice enabled them to siphon off lakhs of rupees while official records reflected a sharp decline in collections.

The irregularity came to light after daily collection reports submitted by the employees for December and January showed unusually low revenue. A subsequent verification revealed discrepancies in the bill numbers, raising suspicions of financial misappropriation.

During the departmental inquiry that followed, the employees admitted to purchasing and using a private billing machine but claimed they had later destroyed it after complaints were raised over its use. Officials also found that the machine had been procured from a private company using the GST registration number of DTPC.

The accused staff had initially defended their actions by claiming that the software on the official DTPC billing machine had malfunctioned, which forced them to use an alternative system. 

Meanwhile, allegations have emerged that the malpractice had continued for more than one-and-a-half years and that complaints submitted to the district collector, who is also the DTPC chairman, and the DTPC secretary failed to trigger a timely investigation.

Just before the previous LDF government demitted office, the three employees facing the allegations were also regularised in service. Following the detection of the suspected financial irregularities, the DTPC has switched to a manual ticketing system while the investigation is underway.