Army land acquisition issue discussed

ITANAGAR, Nov 11: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday co-chaired a high-level meeting with Chief Minister Pema Khandu here to discuss the matter of acquiring land in the state for defence purposes.
The meeting, which was also attended by, among others, Land Management Minister Nabam Rebia, Chief Secretary Satya Gopal, and the army’s Eastern Command C-in-C, involved discussions on complications arising out of collective community land holdings, change of priorities at late stage of procurement, excess payments, higher land costs, and emerging necessities of the army.
Most of the issues were resolved, and major progress was achieved towards early settlement of all the cases. The chief minister assured support from the state government, besides his personal intervention with the locals in breaking the existing logjams related to land acquisition. (CMO)