THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The failure of the Kerala Government in providing basic infrastructure facilities at three harbours in the state for the preservation of fish and fishery products meant for export has landed Kochi-headquarted Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) in a soup.The latest Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has accused the MPEDA of placing orders for supply of equipment even before the infrastructure facilities were put in place, rendering the equipment valued at Rs79.65 lakh lying idle till date.The Kerala Government were to provide basic infrastructure facilities such as covered auction hall, uninterrupted power supply and sufficient potable water for producing ice, which are yet to materialise. The Government of India had approved in September 2008 a scheme for the upgradation of 19 identified fishing harbours spread over six maritime states for setting up of ice-making machines and chill rooms for the preservation of fish and fishery products at a total cost of Rs 7.60 crore. The upgradation project was completed only in two harbours in Karnataka, while work is still in progress in Kerala. “The Authority replied (May/July 2011) that the matter is being pursued with the respective State Government to expedite completion of the projects. The reply is not acceptable as purchase of equipment should have been deferred in the absence of infrastructure,’’ said the CAG report. Furthermore, the report has accused MPEDA of providing subsidies without taking the necessary bonds, which has led to the misuse of the funds allotted as subsidy. “It was seen that seven vessels which were provided subsidy under thescheme of conversion of vessels to tuna long-liners had dismantled the tuna gear and sold the same in the market.Further, the vessels were not involved in tuna fishing but were deployed on charter as chase boat to the foreignseismic companies,’’ the report said. The CAG has made it clear in the report that MPEDA should have insisted upon hypothecation/pledge of the equipment/facilities for which subsidy was given. ‘’As per the practice in vogue,m the beneficiaries were required to execute a bond for availing of subsidy under any of the scheme of the authority. It was observed that during 2008-09 and 2009-10 subsidy of `72.59 lakh was paid to 20 beneficiaries under the scheme of ‘Capture Fisheries’ without executing the necessary bonds,’’ said the CAG report adding that though MPEDA replied that copies of agreements collected from the beneficiaries would be furnished to audit for verification, the same were not furnished. The report also accused that the agency utilised only ` 3 crore out of the total ` 42.50 crore allocated for sea freight assistance during 2007-08 and 2009-10. Under the scheme, assistance of freight differential was to be provided to the seafood entrepreneurs for import of raw material and export of value-added products. The scheme also envisaged assistance for export of products for which raw material had been sourced indigenously. But MPEDA used only Rs 3 crore during the three years and did not record the impact of the assistance provided. The CAG also observed that the MPEDA had fallen short of converting vessels into tuna long-liners which ultimately resulted in the decline of tuna production from 37,000 tonne during 2007-08 to 22,000 tonne during 2009-10. The MPEDA was allocated Rs 40 crore during the 11th Five-Year Plan with a target to modify 900 vessels into tuna long-liners by 2010 to achieve an additional production of 90,000 tonne of tuna.
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