Slum development norms violated by Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi corporations

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The implementation of Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP), intended to improve living conditions in the slums of Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi corporations, has blatantly violated established norms in beneficiary selection and creation of assets.

This was revealed in the CAG audit on local self-government institutions tabled in the Assembly on Monday.

There were 766 slums in the two cities (355 in Thiruvananthapuram and 411 in Kochi). The scheme was taken up for implementation in 30 slums (Thiruvananthapuram: 23, Kochi: 7).

The approved detailed project reports (DPRs) contained 23,631 beneficiaries (Thiruvananthapuram: 13187, Kochi: 10444).

Audit, however, observed that the corporations did not provide benefits to all beneficiaries included in the approved DPRs, and provided assistance to new beneficiaries by deleting most of the beneficiaries in the approved list without approval.

The test-check of the files of 740 beneficiaries who received the assistance under the scheme in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation revealed that only 55 of them were from the approved list. Kochi Corporation had changed the entire list of 5,830 beneficiaries and included new names.

Though slum development should have been the focus, the main activity under BSUP undertaken by the two corporations was the construction of individual houses, flats and renovation of houses.

Of the 23,631 dwelling units targeted under the scheme in the two cities, construction of 18,675 units started and 15,282 of them had been completed.

What’s more, these dwelling units were constructed in different locations of the cities and not confined to the slums, thus violating the norms.