KIADB slammed for extending undue benefit to private firm

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According to a CAG report for the year ending March 2024, the KIADB neither levied nor collected ₹24.17 crore as compensation for 9,761 sq. metres of land used for a road. It also failed to collect service charges of ₹2.90 crore on the land. | Photo Credit: File Photo

The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) has pulled up the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for extending an undue benefit of ₹31.90 crore to Toyota Industries Engine India Pvt. Ltd. at Jigani and Bukkasagara in Anekal taluk of Bengaluru Urban district.

The CAG report for the year ending March, 2024, tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, said KIADB had acted in violation of a government order while recovering compensation for land used for a road and reducing the rate of service charges, resulting in an undue benefit to the company.

According to the report, the KIADB neither levied nor collected ₹24.17 crore as compensation for 9,761 sq. metres of land used for a road. It also failed to collect service charges of ₹2.90 crore on the land.

Further, the KIADB reduced the service charge rate from 12% to 6% at the company’s request, in violation of a February 2021 government order. The reduction resulted in an additional undue benefit of ₹4.83 crore, the report said.

In another observation, the CAG flagged wasteful expenditure of ₹1.55 crore on a proposed Regional Science Centre in Mysuru. The Electronics, IT and BT Department had proposed the project at a cost of ₹14.50 crore on seven acres of land within the University of Mysore campus near Kukkarahalli Lake.

The work was stopped in 2016 after it was found that the proposed construction site was located on a lakebed, rendering the expenditure incurred on the project wasteful, the report said.

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