The Comptroller and Auditor General has pulled up Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) for violating government guidelines during land acquisition and execution of various housing projects, resulting in a loss of Rs. 146.26 crore in three projects.
In its report on Performance Audit of Acquisition and Development of Land and Allotment of Sites/Houses/ Flats by the KHB for 2008–13, the CAG has said that fixing allotment rate before actual completion of the project resulted in a loss of Rs. 146.26 crore in the three projects.
The report said adopting manual excavation instead of mechanical means in 18 works resulted in the KHB incurring an “avoidable” expenditure of Rs. 9.16 crore.
The KHB selected the locations and the extent of land arbitrarily, without conducting any demand survey or ascertaining availability of land. This resulted in non-execution of projects or projects being shifted to other locations, the CAG said in its report.
Similarly, the Special Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO) failed to obtain all documents for processing claims before payment of compensation. Hence, Rs. 8.52 crore was paid as compensation without availability of documents and therefore audit could not derive assurance that payments were made to rightful owners, the report said.
