SHIMLA, July 13 : In light of Himachal Pradesh facing massive destruction of life and property in the ongoing monsoon season besides exposing many scams in the National Highway Projects across the state, a report prepared by the state government land acquisition officer exposed number of irregularities in the various projects executed in the state.
The officers stated that in the guise of national interest or the highway development, walls of personal interests start to be built on the foundation of planning.
“When the processes from acquisition to compensation distribution sink in the quagmire of planned corruption, and when government schemes become the ‘golden gates’ for a few officials and their close beneficiaries instead of serving the common man, then this is not only a misuse of public money but also raises a serious question mark on the administrative integrity of the state,” the report says.
The facts coming to light in the NHAI four-lane project are pointing towards a horrifying reality-where open bids were made for ‘personal interests’ in the name of a ‘public project’ and both law and morality were flouted in the manipulation of land, houses, Khasra and records.
This entire episode has revealed serious anomalies in compensation allocation, manipulation in alignment, registration of non-acquired land, fraud in valuation, and compensation for illegal structures built on government land.
For instance, houses located inside and outside the Right of Way (ROW) the compensation irregularities for 400 structures.
About 400 such structures falling within the periphery of the four-lane project from Kiratpur to Pandoh are still standing as before, for which compensation has been allotted years ago.
This situation does not just point to an administrative lapse, but a well-planned neglect.
When objections were raised against these structures, the report submitted by the land acquisition officer made the situation even more suspicious-it stated that these houses were partially demolished, but the owners had renovated them, and it was not clear whether these structures were old or newly constructed.
Such a vague and baseless report does not seem to be the product of a responsible officer but of a ‘suspicious intention’.
However, in the technological age-where with the help of satellite images and geo-tagged documents, year-wise status could be accurately confirmed, the geographical location, construction status and presence of these structures prior to 2015 could be clearly seen.
The report, submitted by the land acquisition officers, is therefore not only an attempt to cover-up the facts but also appears to be a strategy to cover-up the massive irregularities and possible collusion in the distribution of compensation.
If the actual status of these 400 structures is investigated on the basis of technical evidence, it is possible that many compensation allocations may not only be found to be improper, but the layers of the vested interests behind them may also be exposed.
Therefore, an impartial and technical investigation of this entire matter is imperative, so that the line between truth and self-interest could be clearly exposed.
(UNI)
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