Even DCs coaxed people into illegal construction: Gadi

Arunachal Pradesh PWD minister Gojeb Gadi today admitted involvement of officers up to the rank of deputy commissioner in instigating people to construct illegal structures along the Trans Arunachal Highway (TAH) for claiming huge compensation.
Responding to a short duration discussion in the Assembly by Independent MLA Paknga Bage, Gadi assured strong action against those officers as directed by Speaker Nabam Rebia in his ruling.
Expressing concern over the issue, which has become a bone of contention in expediting the ambitious project causing inordinate delay, the minister said a high level committee was constituted to probe the issue.
In a recent high level meeting, the home minister and the MLAs have given their observation in this regard, he said.

"Action will be initiated against those officers who have indulged in instigating the people to construct illegal construction along the Right of Way (RoW) in the TAH to claim exorbitant compensation," Gadi said adding the problem was only in the Abotani belt but not in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts.
He urged the members to create awareness among the people in their respective constituencies on the issue.

Participating in the discussion, state home minister Tanga Byaling called for introducing a resolution in the House for demolition of illegal structures.
"Such problem will crop up even in comprehensive power transmission line project to be executed by the Power Grid of India Limited (PGCIL) in the state," he added.

Accusing the opposition for boycotting the session and not participating in such an important discussion, Congress MLA Mutchu Mithi said the TAH, which could be treated as the backbone of the state, was mired with controversy.
Stating that TAH envisaged uniting people of the state from Tirap to Tawang district, Kanubari MLA Gabriel Denang Wangsu said "Compensation has become a deadly disease in the state, which is going to pose a serious challenge in all future projects."
Wondering whether the TAH project would ever see light of the day, Wangsu urged the state government to initiate corrective measures to remove the bottlenecks.