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Defence land worth Rs 20 Trillion not verified
By siliconindia
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Friday, 05 November 2010, 02:53 IST
New Delhi:India is suffering from vicious circle of scams - one leading to another.An internal report of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed the lack of verifiable utilization record for at least 88 percent of a total of 17 lakh acres of prime land across the country.
It comes as the result of the MoD asking its internal auditor to conduct an inquiry into irregularities in the management of defence land, estimated to be worth more than Rs 20 lakh crore (or Rs 20 trillion),about 10 times the annual defence budget.
An investigation by the Controller General of Defence Accounts culminated in a report to the government in May 2010, which said only two lakh acres of the huge land bank under the defence forces were currently being utilized by 62 cantonments. The report noted that the remaining 15 lakh acres were outside cantonment areas for which the Services and the Defence Estate Office had no proper account of "what purpose and with what revenue earnings they were being used".
The report has recommended the disbanding of the Directorate General of Defence Estates (DGDE) in its current shape and the transfer of its functions, activities and expert manpower to the land directorates of the Service headquarters, DRDO and MoD because of its "negligible and negative" role in managing the defence land. It stated that land outside cantonments was ``not being utilized for defence purposes" and called for an immediate inquiry to ascertain how the land was being used. So far, there has been no comprehensive internal audit on land utilization by the defence accounts department.
To ensure transparency in land management, the audit report has mooted a comprehensive electronic database for all land holdings with defence services giving details of their existing use. It wanted the ministry to ask the Service headquarters to prepare the database within a year before acquiring any more land. The value of the land--Rs 20 lakh crore-- has been estimated at a conservative rate of Rs 3,000 per square metre. The inquiry report also found that the custodian of the defence land, the DGDE, was not very transparent and efficient, and this was leading to litigation.