5 Star Hotel Odyssey : Vigilance detects discrepancies in land allotment
Govt's eviction plan receives a shot in the arm
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 03 2011:
The State Vigilance Commission has unearthed several discrepancies and irregularities in land allotment at Kabo Leikai, Naga River colony.
As several officers were found involved in the faulty land allotment, expert opinions have been sought to confirm whether the signatures appended in the official documents were genuine or forged.
A highly placed source informed that the discrepancies and irregularities in the land allotment were detected in the course of an investigation conducted by the Vigilance Commission at the instruction of the Chief Minister.
Notably, the Government has been working to acquire some acres of land from Kabo Leikai to make space for upgrading Hotel Imphal to the status of a five star hotel.
The Vigilance Commission submitted a report to the Chief Minister yesterday with details of the Revenue Department's land allotment process starting from 1981. According to the report, necessary files pertaining to allotment of land to 39 individuals were not processed properly.
It also pointed out that the land was allotted after the master plan of Imphal city was already finalised.
As Kabo Leikai is included within Imphal city's master plan, the area is under Imphal Municipal Council.
The report further stated no necessary consents were sought from PDA, MAHUD or IFCD at the time of allotting land at Kabo Leikai.
Neither the Cabinet Sub-Committee was consulted.
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The Vigilance report clearly mentioned that there are certain major lapses and discrepancies in the process of land allotment at Kabo Leikai.
As several officers including retired IAS officers were found involved in the faulty land allotment process, the Commission suggested the Government to seek expert opinions to ascertain whether signatures of officers appended in the land allotment orders were genuine or forged.
On the other, out of two PILs filed at Gauhati High Court against the Government's land acquisition process, one has been rejected by the Court.
In the meantime, a team of the National Integration Council visited Kabo Leikai on June 27 and conducted a survey.They had accused the Government of cooking up a conspiracy to evict the residents of the colony.
Subsequent upon the survey, the Council submitted an appeal to AICC president Sonia Gandhi to abort the land acquisition process.