ITANAGAR, 12 Nov: The Arunachal Pradesh government has suspended four officials and recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for the suspension of the East Kameng deputy commissioner after a Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) unearthed gross irregularities in land compensation for the Lada to Sarli (Pkg I to V) stretch of the Frontier Highway project in East Kameng district.
The suspended officials are divisional forest officer Abhinav Kumar, district agriculture officer Miram Perme, district horticulture officer C.K Tayum and district land revenue & settlement officer Takam Kechak.
A recommendation has been sent to MHA for the suspension East Kameng DC Himanshu Nigam, who chaired the Ground Verification Board, land management secretary A.K Singh said in a press statement on Wednesday.
The officials have been put under suspension with immediate effect, considering the seriousness of the findings, stated the press release.
The FFC detected issues like non-existent assets being assessed for compensation, wrongful evaluation and fraudulent assessments during the award process.
“The FFC’s interim report submitted on four November indicates serious omissions and commissions by the team undertaking the joint field survey,” Singh said.
The 8-member FFC, headed by the transport commissioner as its chairman, was constituted in August this year, following complaints from the land owners.
They alleged that no ground surveys were conducted to assess land and properties, actual landowners were left out, non-existent beneficiaries were paid excessive compensation, and that there were huge disparities in compensation amounts. They also alleged that the affected families were not given proper notice during the survey, claims and objections, or informed about compensation details.
The FFC has been granted time until 30 November for submission of the final report.
