Staff REPORTER
Itanagar, Nov 12: The Arunachal Pradesh Government has suspended four officials and recommended the suspension of the Deputy Commissioner, East Kameng, after a Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) uncovered major irregularities in the land acquisition and compensation process for the Frontier Highway from Lada to Sarli.
The project, spanning Packages I to V (Chainage 0.00 km to 125.55 km) in East Kameng district, faced complaints from landowners alleging non-conduct of proper ground surveys, exclusion of genuine beneficiaries, and inflated compensation for non-existent assets.
It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Pema Khandu has recently vowed to take stringent action against officials and individuals found guilty in the alleged multi-crore land compensation scam linked to the Lada-Sarli stretch of the Frontier Highway project, reaffirming his government’s zero-tolerance policy against corruption.
Officials said that the land acquisition process was initiated under the RFCTLARR (Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Act, 2013, with a Ground Verification Board constituted under the chairmanship of East Kameng Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Nigam. Other members included officials from the Forest, Agriculture, Horticulture, and Land Management departments.
In response to the serious nature of complaints, the State Government constituted a Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) on August 13, 2025, under the Chairmanship of the Commissioner (Transport), to investigate the allegations, with Chief Engineer PWD (Highway), Director Land Management, Conservator of Forests, Director Agriculture, Director Horticulture, Director Fisheries and DLRSO (HQ) being its members.
The FFC, in its interim report submitted on November 4, found evidence of wrongful assessments, fraudulent compensation claims, and serious lapses by the verification team.
Based on the findings, the Government has placed the Divisional Forest Officer (Seppa) Abhinav Kumar (IFS), District Agriculture Officer Miram Perme, District Horticulture Officer CK Tayum, and District Land Revenue & Settlement Officer (DLRSO) Takam Kechak under suspension with immediate effect.
Additionally, the State Government has recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) the suspension of Himanshu Nigam, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, East Kameng district, who served as Chairman of the Ground Verification Board.