Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government has ordered a fresh on-ground re-verification of land ownership and compensation claims for the Lada–Sarli stretch of the Frontier Highway in East Kameng district after serious irregularities were flagged by a fact-finding panel.
Officials of the land management department said the state has constituted re-verification committees to physically examine land parcels and assets covered under Packages I to V of the project.
The exercise will be carried out under the direct supervision of the East Kameng Deputy Commissioner.
The committees have been instructed to verify each landholding falling within the approved Right of Way, strictly in accordance with the sanctioned strip plan.
Their findings will be cross-checked against compensation awards prepared earlier by a committee headed by the then deputy commissioner.
As part of the process, detailed comparative statements will be drawn up, recording beneficiary names, land area, standing assets and compensation amounts calculated as per the 2022 manual rates.
Any variation between the revised assessment and earlier figures will be clearly documented.
Officials said the entire verification process will be videographed and recorded in line with the ground survey report format prescribed under the 2022 manual, with reports to be submitted within 45 days.
Separate teams have been formed for five different stretches of the highway project.
Each team comprises officers from the land management, public works, agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and forest departments, and is headed by additional deputy commissioners or sub-divisional officers.
To ensure accuracy during field verification, the chief engineer (Highways) has been directed to deploy officials from the Rupa highway division along with consultants to demarcate the Right of Way as per the approved plan.
The district administration will provide logistical support, while the planning department has been asked to release Rs 60 lakh to meet operational expenses.
The home department has also been requested to deploy three platoons of the CRPF to provide security during the exercise.
The re-verification comes amid an ongoing investigation into alleged large-scale misappropriation of compensation funds linked to the project.
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On December 17, the Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested the former district land records and settlement officer of East Kameng following a complaint filed by the All Nyishi Youth Association.
Investigators have said the probe is continuing, with scrutiny of financial transactions, beneficiary lists, procedural lapses and the possible involvement of other officials.
Earlier, the state government had suspended four officials and recommended action against the then deputy commissioner after major irregularities were detected in land acquisition and compensation related to the highway stretch.
The Frontier Highway project has drawn multiple complaints from landowners in the past, including allegations of faulty surveys, exclusion of genuine beneficiaries and inflated compensation claims for non-existent assets.
