ITANAGAR, Feb 27 - Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu today said that those who took huge compensation for �non-existent land and property� relating to construction of the Trans-Arunachal Highway (TAH) would not be spared.
The TAH land compensation scam rattled the State in 2018 when the Special Investigation Cell of the Arunachal Pradesh Police arrested a former Lower Subansiri Deputy Commissioner and two others for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore-rupee scam through disbursement of huge amounts of compensation to fake owners of land acquired for the Joram-Koloriang stretch of the ambitious highway project.
While attending the Nyishi community�s Nyokum Yullo festival at Pitapool, a small town in Lower Subansiri district on Wednesday, Khandu cautioned those collecting �illegal� land compensation and asked them to return the amounts to the State Government voluntarily.
�I announce here today that the State Government is serious on the issue and the law will take its course. I request those who have received payments as land compensation without having any land or property to return the same before the police arrive at their doors,� he said.
Khandu regretted that a few government employees had misled the people, who are actually innocent. He rued that due to various reasons, the Potin-to-Pangin stretch of the TAH, the lifeline of Lower Subansiri, Kra-Daadi, Kurung Kumey, Kamle and Upper Subansiri districts, is still to be completed.
Referring to the recent AP Staff Selection Board (APSSB) examination fiasco, the Chief Minister said he was disturbed by it. Five persons, including top government officials, have been arrested in connection with the scandal.
Khandu reiterated that the APSSB was constituted to offer a level playing field for educated unemployed youths irrespective of social background. �I fail to understand how a few employees could indulge in corruption. Nobody involved in the case will be spared,� he said.
