[Indu Chukhu]
ITANAGAR, 19 Nov: The East Kameng district unit of the All Nyishi Youth Association (EK-ANYA), which began its foot march from Seppa on 14 November to protest the alleged compensation scam related to the Lada-Sarli road under the Arunachal Frontier Highway, reached Itanagar on Wednesday, marking the sixth day of their march. The group is currently staging a sit-in protest at the tennis court in IG Park, where they plan to continue their demonstration until 23 November.
EK-ANYA district unit president Ramesh Taku, stated that the group will submit a representation to the Chief Secretary seeking the re-verification of the compensation packages for Packages 1-5 of the Lada-Sarli Frontier Highway, the arrest of all suspended officials involved in alleged irregularities, and the refund of misused funds to the rightful beneficiaries.
At least thirty individuals participated in a foot march from East Kameng; however, a few others could not continue due to deteriorating health during the march.
Earlier, the Arunachal Pradesh government had suspended four officials and recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) the suspension of the East Kameng Deputy Commissioner after gross irregularities in land compensation were unearthed.
The government suspended 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 was also sent to the MHA for the suspension of East Kameng DC Himanshu Nigam.
Reports of fund misuse were highlighted by the government-sponsored Fact-Finding Committee (FFC), which detected issues such as non-existent assets being assessed for compensation, wrongful evaluations, and fraudulent assessments during the award process.
The complainants alleged that no ground surveys were conducted to properly assess land and properties, actual landowners were excluded, non-existent beneficiaries were paid excessive compensation, and there were huge disparities in compensation amounts. They also claimed that affected families were not given proper notice during the survey, were not informed about claims and objections, and lacked details regarding the compensation.
