Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 30 Jan: The land reverification for the Lada-Sarli Frontier Highway was completed on Thursday.
Social activist from East Kameng district, Sol Dodum, had earlier pursued the issue of the land compensation scam and sought reverification, expressing dissatisfaction and questioning the non-verification of Package 1.
Dodum accused the state government of “mishandling” the amount for land compensation provided by the central government. He said that the amount received by the beneficiaries (project-affected people) was lesser than the amount framed or issued by the central government.
He said that the compensation amounts, including for bamboos, trees and others, were given large rates, but they were not implemented on the ground while transferring the compensation amounts.
He urged the reverification committee to not submit a false report but ensure to report that 99 percent of the highway-affected area falls under jhum cultivation.
“The state government claims that it is going to give double the amount of compensation to the landowners, whereas in reality the owners are being compensated with lesser than what they are being promised,” Dodum said.
He further stated that, if the demand is not fulfilled, the project would be halted.
“The requested amount by the state government from the Centre is never disclosed, and we are compensated with less than what we should receive,” he added.
According to Dodum, only four packages out of the total five packages under the Lada-Sarli Frontier Highway for land compensation have been reverified, leaving Package 1 unverified.
“The amount for Packages 2 and 3 was allocated to Package 1 by former East Kameng DLRSO Takam Kechak and former East Kameng DC Himanshu Nigam,” he said.
Dodum went on to criticise Arunachal West MP Kiren Rijiju over non-verification of Package 1, stating that the area in said package is a Miji majority one.
He said that the people would resort to democratic movement if Package 1 is not verified.
