UP housing board rapped for favouring private builders

Lucknow, May 23 (UNI) The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has rapped Uttar Pradesh Avas Evam Vikas Parishad (UP Housing Board) for favouring private builders which resulted in heavy financial losses to the government exchequer.

The CAG report for the year ending March 31,2006, which was tabled in the state assembly today said that more than Rs 106 crore were siphoned off due to inordinated delays in acquisition of land and non realisation of cost of land from the private builders, encrochers and allotees.

According to the report, parishad decided in May 2006 to leave 1765 acres of land in favour of Ansal properties and Industrial Private Limited (APIPL) under Sultanpur Raod scheme in Lucknow, which the private builders unauthorisedly purchased 58 acres of land from the landowners in the area notified by the Parishad and had started construction and booking for houses and plots in December 2004.

Another illegal transfer of land was detected in Vasundhara Scheme in Ghaziabad where Mohan Meakin Limited sold 12.047 acres of land to a private builder in August 2005 which was given to the company in June 2004 on the condition that the land will be used for construction of a water treatment plant.

In another case in the same Vasundhara scheme, the government occured a revenue loss of Rs 2.52 crore for lowering the land rate hike annually from 16 per cent to 8 per cent in 2004-05. Altogether 602 properties of 50,480 square meter(sqm) had been alloted during the period.

In a major irregularity detected that the Parishad in contravention of the allotment rules alloted 21,264.45 square meter land to the Vartalok Sahakari Avas Samitit during August 1999 to may 2000 without obtaining the list of memberes registered with the society. Besides this, the samiti was alloted 11,710 sqm of land at the rate of Rs 3000 per sqm against the applicable rate of Rs 4200 per sqm in August 1999 and again alloted 9554.45 sqm land at the rate of Rs 4200 per sqm against the appliable rate of Rs 5570 per sqm in May 2000 and the registration in favour of the society was done in March 2003.

Further only 60 per cent cost for 11,710 sqm land was charged from the society for reasons not availble on record and thus the parishad extended undue benefit of Rs 4.12 crore to the society, the report said.

The CAG report pointed out that in 16 schemes of the parishad, 1196 properties ( instututional/commercial/residential plots and houses of various categories) were lying unsold for two to 20 years.

The main rason for non-marketablity of these properties were the location of these properties at inonvenient places and lack of demand. This resulted in non-liquidation of the Parishad's funds to the extent of Rs 65.62 crore.

UNI