Guwahati:The under-construction Holongi Greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh has stumbled into a controversy.
The locals of the Papumpare district, mainly the Chakma refugees have alleged that they are yet to receive compensation for their lands which were taken by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for construction of the airport.
To be built at an estimated cost of Rs 1000 crore, Holongi Greenfield airport is likely to be completed by 2022.
Construction of the airport assumes significance as Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,080 km border with China and 520 km and 217 km frontiers with Myanmar and Bhutan respectively.
The Chakma refugees of erstwhile East Pakistan were rehabilitated in Holongi area of Papumpare district in the early 1960s by the government. In 1964, the government had also allotted the 250 Chakma families 18 bighas of land each to engage them in agricultural activities.
In 2012, the central government sanctioned the Greenfield airport project at Holongi after the request of the Arunachal Pradesh government. Although the central government had allocated Rs 77 crore initially for the rehabilitation of the Chakma refugees displaced from Holongi, most of the families are yet to be properly compensated for the lands they had to part with.
Although the affected people had demanded their rehabilitation in some other area, the demands were yet to be fulfilled.
"Although we were given some amount, there is huge corruption by the district administration and the members of the Chakma Relief and Resettlement Committee, which was formed to distribute the compensation," said Bodhisatya Chakma, one of the affected persons and a member of the Committee.
"The resettlement committee had built some houses to the affected people which got demolished later due to poor construction works. We want to know what is the amount sanctioned for our resettlement and what is the amount given to us? But neither the district administration nor the Resettlement Committee is ready to give us the information," said Chakma.
"I was a member of the Relief and Resettlement Committee of the Holongi Greenfield airport formed by the Deputy Commissioner to pay the compensation. However, I am not aware of what had happened in disbursing the compensation. The President and Secretary of the Committee had taken the money meant for rehabilitation of the people from the government but people have not received the proper compensation. I have told them repeatedly to make public the amount received and amount disbursed to the people. However, they have not done anything to adequately pay the affected people," Bodhisatya Chakma said.
"I am one of the sufferers. The government has given compensation to the Relief and Resettlement Committee. But we have not received the compensation. We have been demanding the government to ensure that the compensations are paid to us," said Karuna Sindhu Chakma.
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