The Chhattisgarh government has admitted that as many as 173 people have received fake compensation against land acquired in Bastar district where Tata Steel plans to set up a plant.
“As against the affected people, 173 fake people, whose land were not acquired by the district administration, had received the compensation,” state Revenue Minister Amar Agrawal said in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. The district administration is taking strict action against such people, he added.
The members in the state Assembly have alleged that the middlemen played a big role in these irregularities. Even a section of state government officials and employees had registered the government land on the name of their relatives and received huge compensation, the members said.
Agrawal, however, denied that any government official or employee was involved in the irregularities while distributing compensation to the villagers. The police have registered three separate offences of cheating and are investigating the matter, he added.
The minister informed the House that Tata Steel did not have any land in possession and had not purchased any land from the villagers.
“The district administration had acquired 1,764.61 hectares of land in ten villages (where the plant will come up) while 173.03 hectares of government land had been transferred to the industry department,” Agrawal said.
Tata steel is setting up a 5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) Greenfield integrated steel in Lohandiguda area of Bastar district.
