Only 17% of targeted dwelling units completed in K’taka for urban poor under Housing schemes: CAG report

Identifying deficiencies in the implementation of housing schemes in Karnataka, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has said that the Housing Department has only completed 88,395 dwelling units (DUs), against the target of 5.17 lakh for the urban poor as on March 2021, which constitutes only 17 per cent.

It also said that out of Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) and Beneficiary Led Individual House Construction (BLC) projects were taken up for only 5,17,531 beneficiaries out of the 13,71,592 prospective beneficiaries (38 per cent) identified through demand survey as on March 2021.

It further said that the construction of 3,28,499 DUs were yet to (March 2021) commence, indicating that achieving the mission goal of “Housing for All” by 2022 was a difficult prospect.

The CAG report on “Housing Schemes for Urban Poor in Karnataka” of the year 2022, was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

As per the report, the Urban Local Bodies did not follow the procedures prescribed for conducting the survey for assessing the demand for housing.

“The improper survey carried the risk of exclusion of eligible beneficiaries, as only 13.72 lakh prospective beneficiaries were identified homeless as against 20.35 lakh projected in Karnataka Affordable Housing Policy (KAHP).” Further pointing out that out of 5.17 lakh beneficiaries approved under 2,472 projects, the report said only 3.43 lakh beneficiaries were attached after due validation using unique identification such as Aadhar number.

“This resulted in 206 beneficiaries who were attached under BLC vertical getting benefits under AHP verticals without validation. Non validation of spouse details during attachment resulted in spouses of 21 BLC beneficiaries receiving benefits under AHP vertical,” it said.

The CAG report also notes that selection of beneficiaries bypassing the prescribed procedures resulted in extension of scheme benefits to ineligible beneficiaries such as those with annual income Rs 3 lakh and those already having pucca houses.

It said during the joint inspection audit it was noticed that 41 per cent of the houses constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) were high-cost multi-story buildings having carpet area of more than 30 square meter, underscoring the irregularities in selection of beneficiaries.

In AHP projects, there was shortfall in aggregating financial resources as the Government of India withheld an amount of Rs 1,003.55 crore due to non-fulfillment of prescribed conditions and due to short collection beneficiary contribution and ULB share to the tune of Rs 8,360.78 crore.