CAG: 560 EWS flats unallotted in Gurgaon

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, March 28

A CAG report tabled in the Haryana Assembly recently has established Gurgaon as a “poor-free” zone.

It highlighted that more than 500 flats built by Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for people from the economically weaker section (EWS) of society remained vacant for want of poor beneficiaries in the city.

HUDA had built 560 EWS flats in Gurgaon under its Ashiana project of its Integrated Housing and Slum Dwellers Programme (IHSDP) to provide hygienic living space with basic amenities to slum dwellers. The project was completed in October 2010 for Rs 20.65 crore.

The department had built the flats not only for those who had encroached on government land and were supposed to be evicted, but also for people who came within the ambit of the EWS category.

But not a single unit has been allotted yet because in spite of its two surveys — the last being in 2013 — the department has not found anybody who qualifies.

City-based RTI activists, however, claim that there is more than what meets the eye.

“The department is now shifting the EWS colony and wants to utilise the flats for some other purpose. It appears that no eligible candidate was found intentionally. An inquiry should be marked,” an RTI activist said.

The report holds HUDA responsible for not identifying eligible persons before beginning the construction. “The department received 204 applications from Gurgaon, but none of the applicants was found to be eligible. The project went ahead nevertheless without proper survey and assessment of eligible persons as per criteria fixed by HUDA,” the report stated.