Over 92 per cent of the acquired lands, some of them under the emergency clause of acquisition by the government, remained unutilised for a period ranging from four to nine years, according to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), tabled in the Assembly on Monday.
The CAG report for the year ending March 2011 revealed that out of the 529-16-01 hectare of land acquired at a cost of `203.10 crore during 2006-2011, 486-66-88 hectares remained unutilised. The land was meant for government departments, including Adi Dravidar Welfare, Art and Culture, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Education, Electricity, Health and Family welfare, Industries and Commerce, among others.
Besides, even eight years after the government decided to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Puducherry, it had not been established. Even though land measuring 336-12-52 hectares was acquired for Rs 73.39 crore for the establishment of SEZ, it remained unutilised for over four years. Further more, land measuring 27-20-60 acquired between 1995 and 2010 at a cost of `10.10 crore for distribution of housing sites to Scheduled Caste and other economically backward class people were not allotted due to non-identification of beneficiaries.
Also, the unspent amount of Rs 118.79 crore, out of the total funds of Rs `326.59 crore, was provided for land acquisition and it was drawn from government accounts and kept in bank savings account by the land acquisition officers (LAOs) instead of keeping the money in the Public Account of the UT government. Following this, cases of avoidable payment of interest and lapse of land acquisitions were noticed.
There was delay of three years in intimating the balance compensation amount payable to land owners, which resulted in avoidable payment of interest of Rs 2.19 crore. Land at Odiampet village was leased out to a trust at a reduced lease rent of `10,000 per annum for building homes for mentally retarded children, orphans, physically handicapped, deaf and blind children, a rural hospital and training centre as against the due rent of `32,616 per annum. However, the land was not used for the purpose. It was used for conducting training classes for tailoring and computer education.
The CAG report also found that payment of old age pension has been made to ineligible persons. Failure of the director of the Women and Child Department to verify the veracity of the information furnished by the applicants has resulted in admissible payment of old age pensions of Rs 1.23 crore. It was noticed that pension was sanctioned to 146 persons belonging to above poverty line families, based on the wrong details furnished, which included 19 government employees and 23 pensioners. The CAG also observed that 751 beneficiaries altered their age in the photocopy of the ration cards.
Due to non-compliance of the sewage system for lack of funds and lack of well and pump houses owing to non-transfer of land, an expenditure of Rs 4.85 crore was incurred on laying of sewer lines by the PWD, which remained unfruitful.
Rejection of the lowest tender received for laying roads and drains at Sorapet and Vadanur villages by the PWD has resulted in avoidable extra cost of Rs 1.04 crore. Further the drawl of loan of Rs 15 crore by the Adi Dravidar Welfare department in advance of requirement for construction of houses for Scheduled Caste people had resulted in an avoidable payment of interest of Rs 84.37 lakh.
The UT government reported 293 cases of misappropriation, loss, defalcation involving government fund of Rs Rs 7.66 crore up till March 2011, according to the CAG report. Final actions on these cases were pending for period ranging from one to over 15 years.
Comments
0 comment