People displaced from Hollongi airport said that the local administration had embezzled around ₹36 crore for them
People displaced from Hollongi airport said that the local administration had embezzled around ₹36 crore for them
The Gauhati High Court has taken cognizance of a scam involving the rehabilitation of 156 Chakma tribal families displaced from the Hollongi Greenfield Airport in Arunachal Pradesh.
The ₹1,200-crore airport coming up near the state capital Itanagar led to the fall of the Congress in 2016 and the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Arunachal Pradesh.
According to a PIL filed in 2021 by the affected families, demanding a Central Bureau of India probe into the scam, around Rs 35.92 crore for their rehabilitation and rehabilitation never reached them. Instead, the state’s Papum Pare district magistrate diverted money through the Chakma Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Committee (CRRC), which did not include those affected or remotely connected with the airport project, he said.
This money was to be transferred directly into the account of each of the 156 families.
Hearing the matter on April 28, Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Robin Phukan observed that the respondents of the State (including Deputy Commissioner of Papum Pare and CRRC) did not file their affidavits as an order had been issued in the PIL. November 1, 2021.
The court observed that the Deputy Commissioner had transferred the amount to the account of CRRC in two phases. It asked the Deputy Commissioner to file his affidavit at least two days before May 30, the next date of hearing of the case, indicating “under which provision of law he has the power to transfer rehabilitation and rehabilitation funds”. was used. Instead of handing over the respective awards to the 156 affected persons to the CRRC.
The court also said that it would be compelled to hold that the Deputy Commissioner has “accepted the statement made in the PIL” and that “the matter will be heard on the basis of material available on record” if he fails to submit the affidavit. lives. Protest allowed within time.
The CRRC was also given a similar direction and asked to transfer the resettlement amount back to the Deputy Commissioner for distribution to the affected families, “in the event that the court finds that the money was transferred erroneously “.
The Arunachal Pradesh government had received Rs 309.73 crore from a wing of the finance ministry for land acquisition, compensation for fixed assets, rehabilitation of those affected by the airport project and relocation of utilities.
The lands of 156 Chakma families were subsequently acquired through the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Act 2013. Two sections of this Act make it mandatory for the transfer of compensation award to the bank account of every displaced. person or family.