The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said that projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) are running way beyond schedule. In a report tabled in the Lok Sabha today, the CAG said only 22 out of 1,517 housing projects approved between 2005 and 2011 were completed. Occupancy of the houses also remained low as only 26 percent of the approved dwelling units had been completed. Besides, only 231 out of 1,298 urban infrastructure projects were completed.

The CAG audit on JNNURM scheme was conducted between April and November last year in 25 States and five Union Territories for the years from 2005 to 2011.
The CAG observed the JNNURM scheme also ran short in fulfilling its objective of de-congesting old quarters in cities. Only 21 out of nearly 1,300 Urban Renewal projects were approved by the Ministry of Urban Development. The CAG also noted that out of over 66 thousand crore rupees allocated by the Planning Commission, the Central government made available less than half of the funds.
The CAG further said there were delays by state governments in the setting up of State Level Nodal Agencies (SLNA) and these were also under-staffed. The CAG recommended that the fund flow arrangements from the Centre to the implementing agencies, routed through the States and SLNAs, be rationalized based on monitoring of ground level status of projects under implementation.