No students, Rs 1.62 crore in funding: Maharashtra's 'ghost' hostels busted
The CAG has found six ghost hostels in Maharashtra that received Rs 1.62 crore despite housing no students. The audit says wider failures in safety, staffing and spending have weakened hostel support for vulnerable students.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged six "ghost hostels" in Maharashtra that received Rs 1.62 crore in government funds over four years without housing a single student, according to its Compliance Audit Report 2024 tabled in the state legislature on July 10.
The report also highlighted wider shortcomings in government-run and aided hostels meant for students from backward and economically weaker sections, pointing to gaps in infrastructure, safety, hygiene, staffing and the use of funds.
According to the report, "The Department of Social Justice and Special Assistance disbursed Rs 1.62 crore to non-functional entities over four years", and described the six institutions as "ghost hostels". As of March 2024, Maharashtra had 443 government-run and 2,388 government-aided hostels catering to 1,21,971 boys and 40,543 girls. The state spent Rs 2,321 crore on these hostels during the audit period. The audit covered physical inspection of 18 government-run and 21 government-aided hostels.
The CAG cited Modikhan Hostel in Jalna as one of the institutions, saying the building was dilapidated and locked, with no signs of occupancy, though records showed 38 students and a superintendent. It said the state government continued to release Rs 18 lakh in honorariums to the hostel over four years. The audit team also found dusty, unoccupied beds at a hostel built for 24 students in Jafrabad in Jalna district. It said similar "ghost" hostels were found at four places in Jalna and one each in Buldhana and Latur.
The report said many government hostels lacked dining halls, libraries, computer laboratories, CCTV surveillance, daily newspapers, televisions and power backup. Regular medical check-ups were almost absent, while students in four hostels had to sit on the floor for meals because there were no tables and chairs. It also said accessibility norms were violated in some hostels in Ahilyanagar, Dharashiv, Jalna and Nagpur, where differently-abled students were given rooms on upper floors even though the rules require ground-floor accommodation.
The CAG further said that only 46 of the 280 government hostels equipped with biometric attendance systems had working devices. It also found inadequate sanitation, poor-quality food, lack of clean drinking water, insufficient lighting and failure to maintain the mandatory one-month buffer stock of food grains at some facilities.
The report criticised the administration over poor use of funds, saying Rs 56.65 crore out of the Rs 487 crore allocated for government hostels in 2023-24 remained unspent. It said nearly 8,930 students across 117 talukas were deprived of hostel facilities because the government failed to implement its policy of setting up one government hostel in every taluka. According to the CAG, 49 government hostels were functioning without superintendents, while five girls' hostels were under male superintendents.
The auditor also said the state's target of constructing 500 government hostels by 2020 remained unmet, with only 443 hostels established despite funds being sanctioned. Overall, the report pointed to non-functional hostels receiving funds and wider delays and deficiencies that affected the expansion and running of student welfare infrastructure in Maharashtra.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged six "ghost hostels" in Maharashtra that received Rs 1.62 crore in government funds over four years without housing a single student, according to its Compliance Audit Report 2024 tabled in the state legislature on July 10.
The report also highlighted wider shortcomings in government-run and aided hostels meant for students from backward and economically weaker sections, pointing to gaps in infrastructure, safety, hygiene, staffing and the use of funds.
According to the report, "The Department of Social Justice and Special Assistance disbursed Rs 1.62 crore to non-functional entities over four years", and described the six institutions as "ghost hostels". As of March 2024, Maharashtra had 443 government-run and 2,388 government-aided hostels catering to 1,21,971 boys and 40,543 girls. The state spent Rs 2,321 crore on these hostels during the audit period. The audit covered physical inspection of 18 government-run and 21 government-aided hostels.
The CAG cited Modikhan Hostel in Jalna as one of the institutions, saying the building was dilapidated and locked, with no signs of occupancy, though records showed 38 students and a superintendent. It said the state government continued to release Rs 18 lakh in honorariums to the hostel over four years. The audit team also found dusty, unoccupied beds at a hostel built for 24 students in Jafrabad in Jalna district. It said similar "ghost" hostels were found at four places in Jalna and one each in Buldhana and Latur.
The report said many government hostels lacked dining halls, libraries, computer laboratories, CCTV surveillance, daily newspapers, televisions and power backup. Regular medical check-ups were almost absent, while students in four hostels had to sit on the floor for meals because there were no tables and chairs. It also said accessibility norms were violated in some hostels in Ahilyanagar, Dharashiv, Jalna and Nagpur, where differently-abled students were given rooms on upper floors even though the rules require ground-floor accommodation.
The CAG further said that only 46 of the 280 government hostels equipped with biometric attendance systems had working devices. It also found inadequate sanitation, poor-quality food, lack of clean drinking water, insufficient lighting and failure to maintain the mandatory one-month buffer stock of food grains at some facilities.
The report criticised the administration over poor use of funds, saying Rs 56.65 crore out of the Rs 487 crore allocated for government hostels in 2023-24 remained unspent. It said nearly 8,930 students across 117 talukas were deprived of hostel facilities because the government failed to implement its policy of setting up one government hostel in every taluka. According to the CAG, 49 government hostels were functioning without superintendents, while five girls' hostels were under male superintendents.
The auditor also said the state's target of constructing 500 government hostels by 2020 remained unmet, with only 443 hostels established despite funds being sanctioned. Overall, the report pointed to non-functional hostels receiving funds and wider delays and deficiencies that affected the expansion and running of student welfare infrastructure in Maharashtra.
