[Urbanstudy] CAG Report raps TN slum clearance board over delays

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/report-raps-slum-clearance-board-over-delays/article7714205.ece?ref=tpnews




Report raps slum clearance board over delays


   - K. Manikandan <http://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/k.-manikandan/>

Failure to stick to deadlines in construction of apartments has led to
soaring cost.

The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) should take concerted actions
to achieve its objectives and provide benefits to families living in city
slums.

This is among the many important revelations on the functioning of the
Board in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)
that was tabled in the Assembly recently.

The report clearly states that the CAG had raised certain issues with the
Tamil Nadu Government in August 2014, but they did not get any reply even
by December of the same year

The striking observation in the CAG’s report is that the prolonged delay in
commencement and subsequent execution of flats meant for families evicted
along the city waterways resulted in the project’s cost soaring by Rs. 75
crore.

*High-rise complexes*

The report looks at the project in Ezhil Nagar in Perumbakkam Village
Panchayat, where the State government is in the process of constructing
high-rise apartment complexes in several blocks to accommodate over 20,000
families from the city.

The project was fraught with delays right from the beginning, the report
notes.

Though the State government gave its sanction and ‘enter upon’ permission
to take over the land for the housing project in January 2007, TNSCB
approached Kancheepuram district administration only in December that year.

More importantly, TNSCB had planned to construct nearly 24,000 homes in
81.2 hectares of land – a density of 294 homes per hectare – way above the
norms of only 150 homes per hectare as specified in National Building Code,
the CAG report said.

*Tsunami rehabilitation project*

The CAG has also written about the delay in implementing the Marina housing
project under the Emergency Tsunami Rehabilitation Project.

The TNSCB, the report said, had remitted Rs. 60 crore of unspent funds back
to the State government and that despite the availability of funds to the
extent of Rs. 79.9 crore, over 2,000 people affected in Tsunami of 2004
continued to live in dilapidated structures.

The CAG concludes that the Board should withdraw funds from its personal
deposits account based on actual requirements for effective use and speed
up allotment of tenements constructed under different schemes to the
families living in slums.

*Story of neglect *
**Land allotment 81.2 hectares (203 acres)* **House planned 23,864 (294
houses per hectare)* **Maximum no. of housing units as allowed per National
Building Code: 12, 180.* **TNSCB decides to shifts 3,488 houses.* **Cost
escalation as a result: Rs. 7585 cr.*

*Delay in Tsunami project*
**TN govt plans to builf 2,280 tenements under Tsunami rehabilitation
project for which GOI sanctions Rs. 128 crore.* **More than a decade after
Tsunami, 2,234 affected families live in dilapidated houses. *

*The following are the CAG's findings on Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board's
tenements in Perumbakkam*

*(Statistics mentioned in the CAG report are applicable till March 2014).*
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