The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has flagged violations in the grant of housing subsidy and flaws in scrutiny of selection of beneficiaries in the implementation of the beneficiary-led construction component of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Urban in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
In its compliance audit report of the flagship Centrally-sponsored scheme, the CAG found that 1,175 male beneficiaries were selected for grant of subsidy in violation of scheme guidelines. Eleven beneficiaries whose annual income was in excess of the prescribed ceiling limit of ₹ three lakh were granted subsidy in contravention to the scheme guidelines.
The beneficiary-led house construction is one of the components of the PMAY-Housing For All (Urban) Mission under which assistance is provided to individual eligible families belonging to EWS categories to either construct new houses or enhance existing houses on their own, to include beneficiaries, who are not able to take benefits of other components of the mission.
The CAG audit observed that scheme guidelines were not adhered to and ₹18.95 crore was released in advance to the beneficiaries who had not started construction of their houses or which were in semi-constructed stage.
It also found that even though 44,315 beneficiaries were found eligible for the scheme, 16,013 potential beneficiaries were deprived of the benefits as two components of the scheme were not implemented in the Union Territory. In the selection of beneficiaries, proper scrutiny of applications was not done which resulted in deletion of 2,120 beneficiaries from the approved list, the report stated.
