Ghaziabad development body to start forensic audit of 18 delayed projects

The UP law department has given its go-ahead for Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to initiate forensic audit of delayed projects under its jurisdiction. According to officials, at least 18 builder projects, which have been found to be violating various UP-Rera norms, have been placed under ‘C category’ in a list prepared by GDA. The Authority is planning to carry out forensic audit of these projects to understand the reasons for delays. “Currently, there are a total of 115 builder projects in the city. Based on their work progress and compliance with the rules, we have placed these projects under tree categories — A, B and C,” said a GDA official. “As many as 58 projects, which are doing good in terms work progress and other factors, have been listed in the A category; 39 projects, where work has been assessed to be satisfactory, have been placed in the B category. The remaining 18 projects, which have failed on more than one counts resulting in delays, are under ‘C’ category,” he added. Sources said the GDA had decided to tighten the noose around these 18 projects as it suspected that their promoters might have diverted funds to other projects in violation of Rera rules. According to the norms, a promoter must open an escrow account in which money collected from buyers of a particular project is deposited. The promoter is supposed to use only 70% of the escrow amount in the particular project. “But there have been instances where the builder diverted a part or the whole amount of a project to other projects. Forensic audit will help GDA ascertained whether the funds from the 18 projects have been diverted elsewhere. The law department has given its nod and the GDA will start the audit soon,” said another official. “If found guilty, a promoter may land in jail and his project could be de-registered,” he added.