Govt asked to shut down Housing Board

SHILLONG: The Public Accounts Committee has urged the government to shut down Meghalaya State Housing Board, which has turned into a liability.
The government incurred Rs 6.02 crore expenditure in 2011-12 that could have been avoided had the Meghalaya State Housing Board been closed down following the Department’s direction, the Public Accounts Committee on CAG report said.
The audit scrutiny revealed that the Board borrowed Rs 36.56 crore from financial institutions and repaid Rs 31.03 crore between 1998 and 2005. The State government as the guarantor paid Rs 45.70 crore to        the financial institutions as full and final settlement of the outstanding loans.
During 2007-2012, the Board spent Rs 6.02 crore on administrative expenses, including pay and allowance, against which it was able to recover only Rs 2.85 crore from borrowers.
The Board, without the department’s approval, irregularly utilised Rs 2.85 crore repaid by the borrowers in 2007-08 for payment and allowances of its staff. This is besides the Rs 46 lakh grant in aid to that it got for meeting administrative expenses in the period.
PAC observed that the government’s delay in taking a final call on the closure of the Board even after 14 years of identifying the problem in 2003 has turned it into a white elephant.
The committee has urged the government to formally declare the closure of Meghalaya Housing Board and to sanction payment of salaries of its employees up to the date of closure.