Revenue records were tampered with to show ownership of land and ‘air houses’ to claim compensation. A conspiratorial nexus has taken the entire system in its grip.
मध्य प्रदेश में भू-माफिया का ‘राज’, करोड़ों की जमीन के वारे न्यारे
After an internal investigation, Railways has reported a scam worth Rs 300 crore in Madhya Pradesh in which ‘ghost’ and fake land owners walked away with land compensation. Apart from this, some people were also given inflated compensation on the basis of fake documents.
The 541-km-long Lalitpur-Singrauli railway track, connecting the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh with Uttar Pradesh, was approved in 1997-98, but it gained momentum only in 2016 when then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu approved Rs 6,672 crore for the project. Approved. He also laid the foundation stone of Sidhi Railway Station in the same year. It is another matter that even after seven years it is still not ready. The April 2023 review report of the Railways states that although the land acquisition for 450 km of track has been completed, about 100 km of track between Sidhi and Singrauli is facing major irregularities in land acquisition and compensation determination. The matter is stuck.i)
In February, 2021, Railways wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Revenue) and District Collector of Singrauli, drawing their attention to the irregularities in the revenue records of several villages including Kursa. Irregularities were reported in 27 out of 60 plots in Kursa. Railways wrote in the letter: ‘The owners of these plots (in Kursa) are locals but the houses shown on the land belong to outsiders. In one case, the land belongs to Ashok Kumar Kumhar, but the 19 houses shown on his property belong to outsiders. In lieu of 19 houses, a compensation of Rs 6.59 crore has been given to the house owners. Why so?’
In July this year, the Railways had written a letter to the Chief Secretary complaining that the Singrauli district administration was surveying and evaluating the land without prior information to the Railways and in the absence of Railway representatives. “Whenever we found irregularities, the state government and concerned collectors were informed,” says Manoj Kumar Agarwal, chief administrative officer (construction), West Central Railway.
During the last three years, two dozen letters were sent but the state government did not pay any attention to them. Finally, on January 15 this year, the Railways stopped work on this stretch.
Shankar Lal Baigha received the letter – later he was paid in full (Photo – Kashif Kakvi)
Shankar Lal Baigha received the letter – later he was paid in full (Photo – Kashif Kakvi)
In fact, Sidhi DM Abhishek Singh had alerted the state government about the possible ‘scam’ on August 1, 2019. During inspection of the area, they had found that a compensation of Rs 2.5 crore has been allotted to Sita Singh of Chandwahi village for 0.44 acre land containing tin shed. According to an officer who worked with Abhishek Singh in the Collectorate, he was being pressurized by a senior bureaucrat to approve that payment. When he refused, the DM was transferred to the Department of Planning, Economics and Statistics and then to the State Election Commission within a week. However, he informed the Railways about this and the final compensation was reduced to Rs 5.2 lakh.
In fact, BJP Rajya Sabha member Ajay Pratap Singh alleges that within two weeks of the inauguration, the route between Sidhi and Singrauli was changed. He says the new route is eight kilometers long, which has delayed the project and increased the cost by Rs 100 crore. Why this was done and to whom it was done, it should be investigated. He had raised the issue in Parliament and the reply he received from Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said there were ‘local reasons’ behind the change.
The MP, speaking over phone, alleged that a land mafia network involving local officials including magistrates, tehsildars and patwaris had conspired to defraud the Railways and taxpayers of crores of rupees. He said, ‘This syndicate is so powerful that it got the route of the track changed because it was going through land that was bought for windfall profits.’
Responding to a question by Congress MP Digvijay Singh in the Rajya Sabha in August 2023, the ministry said the project cost, which was Rs 6,672 crore in 2016, has increased to Rs 8,913 crore.
Three FIRs were registered against DP Shukla, a whistleblower from Singrauli district, and his 88-year-old father for raising the issue. DP Shukla had about one acre of land in Chhiva and Khobha villages, for which a compensation of Rs 1.5 crore was distributed by adding the names of five fake people. Judicial stamp paper was used for this fraud, which was later investigated after a complaint was made and the license of a stamp seller was canceled in June, 2023.
This matter should also be looked into. PWD daily wage earner Rammohan Dwivedi (55) got a one-acre plot.
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