Relief paid even for land not acquired

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, February 20

In the multi-crore Hoshiarpur land scam, Rs66 lakh was allegedly paid for 36 marlas that were reportedly not part of the acquired land.

Farmers went to meet Shiv Kumar Verma, IG, Vigilance, in Chandigarh in this regard today, but he was not available.

Verma is heading the SIT formed to probe the matter.

Farmers of the area alleged that the “khasra” numbers were wrongly added to the notification, whereas the chunk of land was around 55 ft from the land acquired for four-laning of the highway. Accusing the then SDM and land acquisition collector Anand Sagar Sharma of this “goof-up”, they have sought action.

A joint complaint had been handed over to the Director General, Vigilance, by farmers. They complained about the “wrongful” compensation for the land acquired for the NHAI for four-laning and the construction of a bypass on the Jalandhar-Chintpurni NH-70.

They alleged that the then SDM had granted compensation at inflated rates to cronies, causing a loss to the exchequer.

One of the complainants, Major Dhami, told The Tribune, “We have filed a complaint with the VB and we will soon be meeting its officials to know the progress. How can compensation be paid for a piece of land not acquired? This fraud has been committed by government officials in connivance with private persons and we have requested the VB to hold a proper investigation.”