Silchar: Expressing serious doubt over the transparency in land acquisition at Doloo tea estate for the proposed greenfield airport, TMC MP Sushmita Dev had shot another letter to the Assam Chief Secretary seeking relevant documents. This was the third letter she had sent to the Chief Secretary since June 10, 2022. Reminding it, Dev said, the State government was yet to hand over any document to her. Speaking to this correspondent, Sushmita Dev said, “There is every reason to fear that there has been serious violation of prescribed norms in case of land acquisition at Doloo. As far as I know, the Cachar district administration had issued no public notice before uprooting lakhs of tea plants. Further no environmental impact assessment or socio-economic survey, the most essential conditions for land acquisition had been done by any authority.”
In the latest letter to Ravi Kota, the Chief Secretary, Sushmita Dev said, she had written to his predecessor Jishnu Barua on April 10, 2022 requesting him to provide her with the documents and records pertaining to the acquisition of land at Doloo. Earlier on May 24, and June 7, 2022 she wrote to the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar seeking the same papers, but did not get any response.
However, the then Chief Secretary Barua responded promptly as on the following day in a letter to Dev, he citing severe flood in Cachar assured her that the documents would supplied to her once the situation improves. Susmita said, “After nearly two months of waiting, my office never received any documentation. I reminded the Chief Secretary once again, but I haven't heard back as of yet.”
In her letter to Kota, Sushmita Dev narrated the chronology and stated that, as an Indian citizen, she had every right to obtain the documents, not because she was an MP.
Sushmita Dev expressed her complete support for all forms of infrastructure development in the Barak Valley in an interview with this correspondent. The government possessed complete authority over the land; yet, the purchase process necessitated adherence to specific guidelines to prevent legal disputes from impeding the project's progress.
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