ITANAGAR, Jun 14: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Thursday charged the BJP government in the state and the centre for allegedly “hatching out conspiracy to pave the way for huge scam in matters of land compensation for the construction of Potin to Bopi (Rs 198 crore) and Joram to Koloriang (Rs 40 crore) road projects.”
These roads were sanctioned and awarded as part of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s PM package in 2011-12, the APCC said, and blamed the state government for its “utter failure to provide land and property compensation to the general public.”
The party also condemned “the intentional and tacit understanding of state administration, the Centre and district administration to give gross and large-scale benefit to few people, bypassing the genuineness of the villagers, landowners and farmers, which resulted in large-scale corruption and scam amounting to Rs 238 crore, including private forest payment of Rs 10 crore.”
Demanding inquiry into the alleged ‘scam’, the APCC warned of “serious agitation, unless the entire scam is probed.”
Referring to the fact-finding committee, the APCC said the committee should have “time-bound action and report submitted to the authorities be made public.”
Accusing the state BJP of playing “delay tactics in the CBI investigation on political ground,” the APCC criticized the ineffectiveness of the CBI in the land compensation case relating to the Bhalukpong to Tawang (via Bomdila-Dirang) double-laning scheme in 2012.
Meanwhile, APCC president Takam Sanjoy said he has constituted a nine-member ‘assessment committee’ to inquire into the truth behind the scam “and also supplement any investigation team.”
