It’s been six yrs, he’s forgotten his salary amount

From outside, the 18-storey Biscomaun building makes an impressive picture, towering over the other buildings in the heart of the city. But come closer, and the facade peels off: hawkers selling forms and innumerable tea shops and small eateries dot the front, while inside, is a deathly quiet.

Ironically, Biscomaun was started in 1950 with the aim of providing succour to the impoverished farmers in the state. It was to get timely supply of good quality agricultural inputs, especially fertilisers, to the farmers and to ensure fair price to them by marketing their produce and providing them a network of cold storage and processing facilities.

Razak is a walking example of where that dream has ended. Employed as a peon at Biscomaun, he now looks after the cycle and two-wheeler stand on the side of the building to make around Rs 500 a month.

He has to hand this over to Biscomaun, which owns the property, and then wait for his share. That could come on the first, seventh, even the middle of the month. Worse, since the Regional Passport Office shifted from the building, even these earnings have dropped substantially.

To his shame, his 17-year-old son now earns more than him — Rs 1,000 — working as a peon in a private office. ‘‘I couldn’t even send him to a government school. I didn’t have money to buy him books. I feel terrible at times,’’ Razak says. His other three children are all girls — between the ages of 15 and 19. The worry about their wedding plagues him constantly.

It’s hard to put a finger at what exactly went wrong with Biscomaun. But from management to policy decisions to over staffing, hardly anything went right.

According to audit reports, the corporation is owed around Rs 42.53 crore, including Rs 4 crore as rent alone from its various properties. According to other records, over Rs 70 crore of its money has been siphoned off. In 1992, the state government filed cases, but the money hasn’t been recovered.

In 1988, the government dissolved the board of directors on grounds of mismanagement, according to report filed in the Patna High Court on September 2. ‘‘The state government due to its own financial constraints has been unable to provide Biscomaun the financial assistance or protection as was being done earlier,’’ said the report.

The new administrator, Amitabh Verma, who is also the cooperative secretary, has initiated some efforts to improve things, but many are convinced the rot has set in too deep.

‘‘Nobody bothered over the years, administrators came and went, most left it worse off,’’ laments Ram Pravesh Singh, general secretary of the Biscomaun Karmacharis’ Union.

Two months ago, the state government offered voluntary retirement scheme to 1,811 employees, including 500 above the age of 50, as part of a revival programme. The union turned the proposal down.