BENGALURU: Principal Accountant General (Audit-II), Karnataka, Ashok Sinha released the Compliance Audit (Civil) Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on various departments, including the Electronics, Information Technology and Biotechnology (E, IT&BT) Department, Public Works Department (PWD) and Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), on Tuesday.
The report, which was placed before the state legislature on September 21, lists glaring irregularities and oversights by the state government. KIADB, for instance, during the period between April 2019 and March 2024, was found to have carried out multiple works without ensuring land availability and obtaining prior environmental clearances (ECs), leading to “substantial project delays”.
Three KIADB zones were checked, with 1,074 of the 1,751 allotted units (61.34%), spanning 945.03 acres, found to be non-functional, vacant or not implemented. Of the 22 industrial areas developed after the 2006 Environmental Impact Assessment notification, KIADB was found to have failed to obtain ECs for four.
KIADB also reportedly invested Rs 281.34 crore in developmental activities in Kittur, Balekundri and Aerospace Park Sub-layout 11, despite litigation-free land not being available. Activities in the Hassan industrial area were found to have violated the 2006 Environmental Impact Assessment notification by leaving only a 100-metre buffer zone around the Gandekatte Reserve Forest adjacent to it, which has been classified as an ecologically fragile zone.
The Electronics, Information Technology and Biotechnology Department was flagged for halting the construction of the Regional Science Centre, as the proposed site inside Mysuru University was located on a lake bed and Rs 1.55 crore was wasted.
