Arunachal Pradesh Government Suspends 4 Officials For Land Scam

The Arunachal Pradesh government on Wednesday suspended four officials for their alleged involvement in a massive land acquisition scam related to a highway project in East Kameng district.

Irregularities were found during the land acquisition process for the construction of the Frontier Highway road stretch from Lada to Sarli (Package I to V), covering Chainage 0.00 km to 125.55 km.

The project was initiated, as per the requisition letter submitted by the requiring body, through the issuance of a notification under the RFCTLARR Act, 2013.

The suspended officials are Divisional Forest Officer Abhinav Kumar, District Agriculture Officer Miram Perme, District Horticulture Officer C. K. Tayum, and District Land Revenue & Settlement Officer Takam Kechak.

The state government has also sought approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to suspend Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Nigam, who chaired the Ground Verification Board that approved the controversial award.

The government stated that a large number of complaints were received during the disbursement of compensation. Complainants alleged that no ground survey was carried out to assess land and property by the district administration. It was also alleged that officers from the forest, horticulture, agriculture, and PWD departments were not included in the joint verification process.

The investigation also found gross anomalies in the compensation amounts. It was alleged that actual landowners and affected families were neither assessed nor awarded compensation, while excessive and disproportionate payments were made to non-existent assets and individuals.

It was further claimed that the land and properties of several affected families were excluded from the final award, and their grievances were not addressed by the authorities.

According to complainants, no proper notice was issued to affected families during the survey and the claims-and-objections period. Additionally, compensation details were also not disclosed to the public.

The Department of Land Management, in an order signed by Secretary AK Singh, stated that the complaints from landowners were serious in nature, alleging irregularities in framing the award without conducting a ground survey.

"The Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) was given 30 days to submit its report. Accordingly, the FFC initiated the investigation by inviting claims and objections from landowners and also visited the site," Singh said.

The FFC's interim report, submitted on November 4, indicates serious omissions and commissions by the verification team and points to gross anomalies and fraudulent assessment practices.