Aizawl, Apr 22 : Gauhati High Court today ordered a CBI probe into the alleged compensation scam in the Tuirial hydel project which had been suspended.
The High Court issued the order following a PIL filed by Aizawl-based Society for Social Action (SOSA) in the late 2008.
Confirming this, SOSA president S L Sailo told UNI here that he was yet to receive the judgment. He said the high court sought an interim report in June as well as full assistance from the state government.
The Japanese government-funded 60 Tuirial hydropower project at Bilkhawtlir village in north Mizoram was abandoned in 2003 after a group of landowners in Bilkhawtlir claimed high rates of compensation for the land that the state government wished to acquire for the power plant. The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) and the Japanese Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund Bank, which was funding the project, objected to this.
The controversy over the payment of an ''inflated amount of money'' compelled Neepco to suspend the construction of the plant.
The then Mizo National Front ministry had been branded as the main culprit behind the compensation row that suspended the project.
Former chief minister Zoramthanga's relatives also figured prominently among those who received compensations. Sources alleged that the compensation claimants had drastically increased from 48 to 1,104, when the then Mizoram government extended the period of claim in 2001.
''Among others, the former chief minister's younger brother and his family received Rs 215.33 lakh, which was fifty percent of his actual claims,'' a source said on condition of anonymity. ''The project had been suspended by NEEPCO for not being able to meet the compensations demanded,'' he added.
Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has often accused the MNF government of ''masterminding a secret deal'' for awarding compensation to the land losers from the Neepco's coffers. He has said the MNF had inflated the number of landowners to be compensated from the original figure of 48 to a revised 1,104, resulting in the suspension of the project.
The Centre and the Mizoram government have recently approved that the work of construction for the project be resumed.
A senior Neepco official said his organization had agreed to resume the project after the Congress-led government in the state assured them of hassle-free and transparency in the payment of compensation.
However, the delay in the construction has already inflated the total cost of this project from Rs 359.66 crore to Rs 880 crore.
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