- CAG finds six non-functional hostels received ₹1.62 crore despite having no students.
- Audit highlights poor infrastructure, weak monitoring and staffing shortages.
- Nearly 8,930 students deprived of hostel facilities across 117 talukas.
- Report points to unspent funds and delays in expanding government hostels.
GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 15th July: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has uncovered six “ghost hostels” in Maharashtra that received ₹1.62 crore in government funding between 2020 and 2024 despite having no students, exposing serious lapses in the implementation and monitoring of welfare schemes for socially and economically disadvantaged students.
The findings are part of the Compliance Audit Report 2024, tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly during the ongoing monsoon session.
According to the audit, the Department of Social Justice and Special Assistance continued to release funds to six non-functional hostels over four years even though the facilities remained vacant.
One of the hostels, Modikhan Hostel in Jalna, was found locked and dilapidated during inspection. Despite showing no signs of occupancy, official records claimed 38 students were enrolled and that a superintendent was posted there. The government continued to release ₹18 lakh in honorarium payments over four years.
Another hostel in Jafrabad, Jalna district, built to accommodate 24 students, was also found deserted with dust-covered beds and no occupants. Similar non-functional hostels were identified at four locations in Jalna district and one each in Buldhana and Latur.
The CAG said the release of funds to these institutions reflected major deficiencies in verification and oversight mechanisms.
The audit also highlighted widespread shortcomings in hostel infrastructure. As of March 2024, Maharashtra had 443 government-run hostels and 2,388 government-aided hostels, with accommodation for 1,21,971 boys and 40,543 girls. The state spent around ₹2,321 crore on hostel operations during the audit period.
Physical inspections of 39 hostels revealed that many lacked essential facilities, including dining halls, libraries, computer laboratories, CCTV surveillance, newspapers, television facilities and power backup. In several hostels, students were forced to sit on the floor while eating due to the absence of tables and chairs.
The report also cited poor sanitation, inadequate lighting, unsafe drinking water, irregular medical check-ups and poor-quality food in several institutions.
Auditors found violations of accessibility norms, with differently-abled students being allotted rooms on upper floors in hostels located in Ahilyanagar, Dharashiv, Jalna and Nagpur, despite guidelines requiring ground-floor accommodation.
Technology-based monitoring was found to be ineffective, with only 46 of 280 biometric attendance systems functioning in government hostels.
The audit further revealed that ₹56.65 crore out of the ₹487 crore allocated for government hostels in 2023-24 remained unspent. It also found that 8,930 students across 117 talukas were deprived of hostel facilities as the state’s policy of establishing at least one government hostel in every taluka remained unfulfilled.
According to the report, 49 government hostels were functioning without superintendents, while five girls’ hostels were managed by male superintendents.
The CAG also noted that Maharashtra failed to achieve its target of constructing 500 government hostels by 2020, with only 443 hostels operational by March 2024. The report concluded that weak verification systems, poor supervision and ineffective implementation allowed funds to continue flowing to hostels existing only on paper while thousands of eligible students remained without accommodation.
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