Thiruvananthapuram: The government has entrusted the printing of state lottery tickets to a private press which is reportedly a partner of Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (SIDCO). The move excludes current printers, C APT and Kerala Book and Publications Society (KBPS), from printing the tickets. Even though the firms had announced that they were ready to print the tickets for the government, they were excluded.
Additional chief secretary W.R. Reddy had issued the order awarding the contract to the private firm on the day elections were declared in the state. After that, he was deputed to the Centre. Now, KBPS MD Tomin Thatchankary has written to the government that the order is against Kerala Paper Lottery control norms of 2005. He wants the new order to be cancelled.
The government had made a profit of Rs 5,500 crores through the sale of lotteries in the past financial year. It is targeting Rs 6,500 in profits in the current fiscal.
SIDCO had recently formed a joint venture with a private firm in Manvila to form Kerala SIDCO Hightech Security Printing Solutions Pvt Ltd and has a share of 26 per cent in the JV. However, the name of the partner is ambiguous and SIDCO does not have a high security press as of now. The order also says that with each lot, production is to be ramped up by 90 lakh tickets and that PSU firms do not have the capacity to print such volumes. The Lottery Director had certified the capabilities of the press. According to Kerala Paper Lottery control norms of 2005, tickets have to be printed in a high security press.
KBPS had earlier written to the government seeking a renewal of a printing contract and had enhanced its printing capabilities to cater to additional load. It had also said that it was ready to enhance IT hardware to cater to increased demand. It had also informed the government that it was ready to print the new Sreeshakthi lotteries of the government. However, the government seems to have ignored all these requests. The private press in Manvila reportedly does not have enough staff.
KBPS also said that allegations that it was not printing tickets on time is misguided and claimed that it has always struck to a deadline.
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