OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: The Arunachal Pradesh government has suspended four senior district officers and recommended disciplinary action against the East Kameng Deputy Commissioner after a fact-finding committee unearthed large-scale irregularities in land compensation for the Lada-Sarli stretch of the Frontier Highway project.
According to an official release on Wednesday, the investigation found that non-existent assets were assessed for compensation, wrongful evaluations were made, and fraudulent assessments were carried out during the award process for land acquisition from Lada to Sarli (Package I to V) of the project, covering a distance of 125.55 km. The suspended officials include Divisional Forest Officer Abhinav Kumar, District Agriculture Officer Miram Perme, District Horticulture Officer C. K. Tayum, and District Land Revenue and Settlement Officer Takam Kechak.
The government has also recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs the suspension of Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Nigam, who chaired the Ground Verification Board that approved the controversial award.
The fact-finding committee, headed by the Commissioner (Transport) and comprising senior officials from the PWD, Land Management, Forest, Agriculture, Horticulture, and Fisheries Departments, was constituted on August 13 this year following a series of complaints from affected landowners.
Many alleged that no proper ground survey had been carried out, legitimate claimants were excluded, and disproportionate compensation was paid to non-existent beneficiaries.
The FFC's interim report, submitted on November 4, confirmed serious omissions and commissions by the verification team and pointed to gross anomalies and fraudulent assessment practices.
The committee has been granted time until November 30 to submit its final report.
Public outrage has surged across East Kameng following the revelations. Several local organizations and landowners have accused the administration of betraying public trust and "robbing genuine victims."
Social media has been flooded with demands for a transparent probe and strict punitive action against all those involved. Civil society groups have called the case "one of the most shameful compensation scandals in recent years," urging the government to ensure recovery of public money disbursed illegally.
The Land Management Department, in an order signed by Secretary A. K. Singh, stated that considering the gravity of the findings, the officials had been placed under immediate suspension pending final investigation.
The Frontier Highway project, part of India's ambitious border infrastructure plan, has faced repeated hurdles due to land disputes and compensation controversies.