Land owners’ money ‘siphoned off’ from govt accounts
LATEHAR: Hundreds of land owners in Kharaundhi block of Garhwa district have been waiting for at least six years now to receive compensation against acquisition of their land for building a barrage, as the money meant for compensation has allegedly been syphoned off by cyber criminals from government accounts.
As per available information, during a recent meeting of District Infrastructure Scheme Advisory Committee (DISHA) in
Garhwa district, it was revealed that the fund sent to provide the land owners their compensation was fraudulently withdrawn by cyber criminals.
The development came to fore after Bhawnathpur MLA Bhanu Pratap Shahi had raised the issue about the pending compensation at the meeting chaired by Palamu MP VD Ram. Following the revelation, the Garhwa district administration formed a committee to probe the matter.
The work on the said irrigation project that cost ₹44 crore was started in 2013 on Domni River near Lami Sarahiya village under Kharaundhi block.
The Bhawnathpur legislator said, “Payment of compensation to displaced land owners is pending for years. When I raised the issue at DISHA meeting, I was informed that fund amounting to ₹10 crore meant for paying compensation against land acquisition was fraudulently withdrawn. This is a very serious matter, as thousands of village residents are suffering. There should be a high level probe to identify those involved in the act.”
Harendra Paswan, one of the landowners whose six acres of land was acquired for the project, said, “We have not received any compensation so far. Officials keep telling us that it is under process. Work started at the site in 2013 but was halted soon afterwards.” Other loacls echoed a similar sentiment.
Meanwhile, Garhwa deputy commissioner Rajesh Kumar Pathak said Wednesday, “Preliminary probe report hints at cyber fraud by cloning cheques. We will have to wait for final report.” Officials having knowledge of the development, on condition of anonymity, said, “The case has links to fraud reported from land acquisition office in Palamu. In this matter, a case was registered and one government cashier was also arrested.”