The Arunachal Pradesh government has suspended four district officials over irregularities in land compensation for the Frontier Highway project (Lada to Sarli stretch, Package 1-5) in East Kameng district, while a recommendation has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to suspend East Kameng Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Nigam, who chaired the ground verification board.
The suspensions were made with immediate effect, considering the seriousness of the fact-finding committee’s (FFC) findings.
The FFC’s interim report indicated serious omissions and commissions by the team responsible for the joint field survey. It unearthed gross irregularities, including nonexistent assets being assessed for compensation, wrongful evaluations, and fraudulent assessments.
The FFC was constituted in August 2025 following complaints from landowners. Landowners had alleged that no proper ground surveys were conducted, and that actual landowners were excluded from the compensation process. They also complained that nonexistent beneficiaries received compensation, there were huge disparities in the amounts paid, and affected families were not given proper notice during surveys, nor were they informed about claims, objections, or compensation details.
These claims were found to be valid in the FFC report, which will be tabled by the end of November. The suspensions should serve as a warning to those who do not abide by the rule book. Such large-scale scams are not unheard of in the state, where major construction projects are ongoing. This time, it involves a Rs 130-crore compensation scam related to a proposed strategic border road.
It is time to put a stop to this.