mumbai

Updated: Mar 29, 2018 09:32 IST

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has put three projects of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) – in Mahul, Mulund and relocation of slum dwellers -- under the scanner.

The CAG, in its report tabled in the state legislature on Wednesday, stated the rules for these projects were tweaked to favour private builders. The authority termed sanctioning of the Mahul project to rehabilitate those who had shanties on and along water pipelines in Chembur in 2011-12 incorrect, stating it benefited the builder to the tune of Rs156.85 crore. Also, the SRA rehabilitation of 8,582 slums dwellers, who were affected by the project, was not carried out, the CAG said.

The SRA had allowed the rehabilitation scheme on private land at Mahul village, despite the objection raised by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre over its location in the buffer zone and the potential threat to national security. On October 5, 2013, the chief secretary endorsed the security concerns, after which the project was scrapped.

The CAG report also came down heavily on the failure of the housing department to coordinate and supervise timely relocation of slum dwellers from the airport land. It said that considering the huge rehabilitating component of 80,000 tenements, Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) was given a floor space index (FSI) of 4 instead of 3. Even though some tenements were ready to rehabilitate, SRA did not taken their possession from HDIL, as the list of eligible slum dwellers was not finalised.

The report said the concession extended to HDIL in the form of additional FSI and transfer of developmental rights (TDR) proved to be unfruitful. “No slum dwellers could be shifted from the airport land even ten years after the scheme was taken up, defeating the objective of clearance of slums from airport land, which continue to pose a grave security threat to safety, security and operations of the Mumbai airport,” said the report.

The third case involves a project in Mulund, where the SRA did not deduct the mandatory 15% for recreational/amenity open plot, resulting in undue benefits in terms of saleable FSI to the tune of Rs37.93 crore.

Premium Rs3,000 crore, claims worth only Rs11.89 crore settled: CAG

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has indicted the state government over the huge gap between the premium amount and the benefits extended to the citizens under the Jotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, earlier known as Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Yojana.

The CAG report, which was tabled in the state legislature on Wednesday, said claims worth Rs11.89 crore were settled against the premium of Rs3009.31 crore paid until November 2016.

The scheme envisages subsidized medical treatment and surgeries for the poor.

The report has indicted the public health department for its failure to distribute health cards to beneficiaries, appointment of health agents and conducting health camps. “The state government released Rs3,416 crore between 2011 and 2017 for the health insurance scheme covering 9.35 crore beneficiaries,” the report stated, after conducting an audit of records from 2012 to 2017.

The report suggested appointment of health agents to fill the shortfall of 138. It also pointed at the lacunae in implementing the scheme. While the government announced the scheme would include all farmers families across 14 suicide-prone districts in the state, the scheme was extended to all families with ration cards, including those above the poverty line, who were not meant to be beneficiaries of the scheme.