Taking a strong note of the complaint made by one lalita Devi of lohardaga, Chief Minister Raghubar Das today directed lohardaga DC to fill up the Dova which was dug recently on ‘Masna Sthal’ in Torang village of the district. The CM, while taking up complaints of the people during ‘Seedhi Baat’ programme at Suchna Bhawan on Tuesday, also directed the Dhanbad DC to fix a time limit for the payments made to beneficiaries of land acquisition in the State so that they could get their dues on time.

 “Stop the work immediately and fill it up. Do as per the wishes of the people of that village,” CM told lohardaga DC on Video Conferencing. 

 lalita Devi had lodged a complaint that a Dova was being dug illegally over a piece of land which was used as ‘Masma Sthal’ (Graveyard) by the villagers, mostly tribals. She had also mentioned in her complaint that despite her complaints to the Circle Office and land Conservation Officer, no action was taken in this regard.

 “As it is a cultural place for us, they should have consulted the villagers before digging it, but nothing was done in this regard,” said lalita Devi. Kudi Puja was also performed by the villagers over there, she added. 

 In another matter of Dhanbad related to delay in the payment of compensation against acquisition of land by the State Government, the Chief Minister directed the DC to fix a time frame for payment of compensation to the beneficiaries as the matter has already been dragged for six years.

 “Even after six years of the land acquisition, I have not been paid any compensation against 46 decimal of land. Earlier, the officials demanded commission for the payment which we refused after which they started dragging the matter in the name of investigations carried out by Anti-Corruption Bureau,” said complainant Uday Kumar Singh. The officials said that even though his matter was not under the scanner of ACB, payments could be made only after the investigations were completed, he added.

 A total of 18 cases were taken up by the Chief Minister during the Seedhi Baat Programme, during which he gave required directions in each of them.