Bhopal: Government protecting guilty of corruption

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Narmada Bachao Andolan activist, Medha Patkar on Monday claimed that 1,589 fake registries and other irregularities were detected by Shravan Shankar Jha Commission appointed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in connection with the rehabilitation of the people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) project.

Patkar demanded that the report of Justice Jha commission be discussed in the Assembly and action taken against the guilty.

"During seven-year tenure, the commission heard 10,000 people and submitted a 900-page report in 2016 listing 1,590 fake registries furnished for the disbursal of the grant, besides other irregularities in the construction work for the rehabilitation," said Patkar.

Patkar also said that the commission's report named 186 "brokers" who played a role in the fake registries besides several officials. Patkar claimed the fake registries included those in which the land does not exist while in some cases, plots of land were sold multiple times.

"One person sold his family land 87 times and in some cases, smaller pieces of land were shown larger in the land registration document," she alleged.

"The Jha Commission mentioned in the report that all this happened due to the nexus between officials and brokers," she said, adding that the allotment of plots was changed repeatedly.

Narmada Bachao Andolan had filed a petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court due to "corruption and bungling in the rehabilitation work", she said.