CAG draws Noida Authority’s attention for group housing project issues

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has chastised Noida Authority for several issues relating to group housing projects it allocated between 2005-06 and 2017-18, claiming that 63% of the projects are either incomplete or partially completed.

The CAG accused the authority of failing to have a policy framework for property costing, having an excessive allowance of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) resulting in a lower reserve price fixation, miscategorization of sectors, and failing to include costs, among other things.

Noida allotted 67 group housing plots totalling 7.1 million sq m during the audit period, which were subdivided into 113 plots by the allottees. 71 of the 113 projects were either unfinished or only partially completed.

The CAG is the statutory auditor of government-owned corporations and performs supplementary audits on government companies in which the government owns at least 51% of the equity or subsidiaries of existing government companies.

The CAG is also the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, which employs 43,576 people across the country and is run by officers of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service.

Noida, which was established under the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act of 1976, has evolved into a planned, integrated, modern industrial city that is well connected to Delhi via a network of roads, national highways, and the ultra-modern DND flyover, providing inter-road connectivity to all parts of the country.

With its unique infrastructure providing numerous, unrivalled facilities, Noida offers a pollution free high standard of living and highly supportive industrial environment over an area of 20,316 hectares, with many sectors fully developed.

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