Congress in Kerala raises suspicion over 'mysterious' fires in KMSCL godowns

Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan on Tuesday, May 23, expressed concern over "mysterious" fires breaking out at warehouses of government-run KMSCL which is under probe over alleged irregularities during Covid.

"The fire at a godown of the state-run Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited (KMSCL) in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, and a similar one at its Kollam godown last week is definitely suspicious as a Lokayukta probe is on in Covid purchase irregularities," said Satheesan.

"KMSCL is mired in corruption. In the past two years, it has seen nine managing directors. In this organisation, medicines are bought and commissions pocketed. One of the reasons why the vigilance probe was suddenly stopped was that it could have apparently landed some "top" officials in trouble. So the probe should not be limited to the fire, but against all the manipulations happening there," he said.

"Strangely, whenever a central agency probe is underway, fire breaks out. There was a fire in the Secretariat and very recently when an inquiry in connection with the AI camera alleged scam was on, another fire broke out in the office of the Industries Minister. So it's now become a common practice that wherever a probe is on, a fire also breaks out. We demand a serious probe into the KMSCL fire at Kollam and here," he added.

Incidentally, at the fire that broke out in the godown in the wee hours of Tuesday here, a 33-year-old fireman died while dousing it, when a portion of the building came down on him. KMSCL officials feared a loss of over Rs 1 crore and it was after several hours of firefighting that the fire was completely doused.

However, the MD of KMSCL, Jeevan Babu said that they do not suspect any foul play at the moment. "A probe will take place and directions were given to separate the chemicals that were stored in the godown," said Babu.