KHB paid Rs 8.52 cr to land owners without verifying documents: CAG

Belagavi: Rapping the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) for rampant discrepancies in its works, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said fixing allotment rate before completion of three projects resulted in Rs 146.26 crore loss to the exchequer. In its report for February 2008-July 2013, the CAG also found rampant discrepancies in selection of locations for housing projects that were not driven by demand, and payments without proper verification. While acquiring land for projects, the premier housing agency paid Rs 8.52 crore as compensation without verifying documents of land owners, the CAG said. "The Special Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO) failed to obtain all documents necessary for processing claims before payment of compensation. Hence, Rs 8.52 crore was paid as compensation in the absence of necessary documents," the report said. The report tabled in both houses of the legislature said the KHB adopted manual excavation instead of mechanical and incurred an avoidable expenditure of Rs 9.16 crore. Commenting on discrepancies in the allotments, CAG said the board made allotments on request and at rates lower than the rates fixed in its resolutions. "As many as 239 houses in Suryanagar Phase III in Bengaluru and 54 in Kalagnoor-Kushnoor in Kalaburagi were allotted without issuing public notification," it said. Many civic amenity (CA) sites as well as many properties of KHB remained encroached upon and the board did not take any action to evict encroachers. In its recommendations, the CAG said the government needs to ensure that the board acquires land on the basis of demand and also after prior consultation with the jurisdictional planning authorities. On sticky ground 239 houses in Suryanagar Phase III in Bengaluru, 54 in Kalagnoor-Kushnoor in Kalaburagi allotted by KHB without issuing public notification Rs 9.16 crore avoidable expenditure incurred by adopting manual excavation instead of mechanical Road ahead "The government needs to address the issue of fixation of cost of land acquired on the basis of market value by framing guidelines prescribing the procedure for fixation of cost of land." —CAG report -TOI