Several thousand residents in Arunachal Pradesh will get compensation after 55 years for the land acquired by the Army and the Government following the 1962 war with China. The compensation package is more than Rs 3,000 crore and the Central and Arunachal Pradesh Governments are working out the process.
Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, Chief Minister Pema Khandu and senior officials of the Central and State Governments discussed the issue at an hour-long meeting held here on Tuesday, officials said on Wednesday.
Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said the meeting was to settle the issue of land acquired for various defence establishments in the frontier State following the 1962 war with China. “Although the people of Arunachal Pradesh can be branded as ultra patriotic Indians but of late a sense of resentment has been brewing among them due to non-payment of compensation for huge areas of land occupied by the Army,” Rijiju said.
It was learnt that Bhamre directed Defence Ministry officials and the Army to fast-track all the pending issues by properly coordinating with each other and the State Government. Rijiju called for resolving all issues and clear pending cases in a time-bound manner and asked the officials to spell out the time line.
Khandu reportedly said issues of lease rate, grant of ownership rights, payment of dual compensation and fixation of land rates will be resolved soon. The Chief Minister said the Arunachal Pradesh Cabinet has already constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of state land management Minister to examine all pending issues. The pending cases of land acquisition related to the districts of Tawang, West Kameng, Upper Subansiri, Dibang Valley and West Siang.