'58,000 plots acquired for SC/ST under free house site patta scheme remains vacant in eight districts'
"These parcels of lands were divided into a total of 1.17 lakh house plots. As per the details furnished by the department, 50 per cent of the plots were lying vacant as of January 2023," it said.
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CHENNAI: The Comptroller and Auditor General have revealed that over 58,458 plots acquired under the free house site patta scheme by the Adi Dravida and Tribal Welfare Department in eight districts have remained vacant due to the non-identification of beneficiaries.
In the compliance audit report for the year ended March 2022, CAG said that the department acquires land from private parties or obtains government land through assignment and develops the land into residential layouts for distribution to approved beneficiaries.
It said that the department acquired 1,905 parcels of land over the years in eight districts including Dindigul, Erode, Tiruchirappalli, Virudhunagar and Tiruppur.
"These parcels of lands were divided into a total of 1.17 lakh house plots. As per the details furnished by the department, 50 per cent of the plots were lying vacant as of January 2023," it said.
Audit observed that a large number of plots were lying vacant due to non-alignment to eligible applicants, the inability of the assignees to construct houses and the lack of title to the legal heirs of the assignees after the demise of the assignee him/herself.
It added that during the joint physical inspection of 113 sampled layouts, 18 layouts (16 per cent) comprising 1,245 plots were lying entirely vacant.
"Out of those 18 layouts, 12 layouts were made more than 20 years before. In one case, the details of the acquisition were not available. As of November 2022, the lands acquired from the year 1973 to 2020 to the extent of 22.64 hectares, valuing Rs 12.88 crore remained vacant thereby defeating the objective of the scheme, " it added.
CAG also pointed out that there was no mechanism to monitor the sale of assigned land.
"Changes were not effected in land records to prevent sale. Lack of an established institutional mechanism and coordination and monitoring of assigned lands by both the Adi Dravida Welfare Department and Revenue and Disaster Management department enabled the beneficiaries to sell the assigned free house sites within the lock-in period, " it noted.