DC Cachar fails to provide Greenfield Airport’s land acquisition documents, MP Sushmita Dev questions transparency

In a recent development concerning land acquisition in Dolu TE of Cachar district, for the proposed Greenfield Airport project, concerns over transparency have emerged due to delays in providing requested documents. Trinamool MP Sushmita Dev repeatedly requested the documents related to the land acquisition to Deputy Commissioner Cachar. After the DC Cachar failed to provide the documents, Dev also wrote to the then Chief Secretary of Assam for the same. Owning to the Urban Flooding in Silchar in 2022, it was communicated to the MP that, the documents would be shared once the flood situation was over.

In a letter to the present secretary to the state, Ravi Kota, Sushmita Dev wrote, “I had written to your predecessor, Mr. Jishnu Baruah, Chief Secretary of Assam on 10th June, 2022 requesting him to provide me with documents and records pertaining to the acquisition of land in Dolu TE of Cachar district, Assam for a Greenfield Airport project”. The letter revealed that the request followed prior unsuccessful attempts to obtain the documents from the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar, despite repeated written requests on May 24, 2022, and a reminder on June 7, 2022.

In response to Dev’s letter, Baruah cited severe floods in Cachar district as the reason for the delay in providing the documents and records. In the letter dated June 25, 2022, Baruah assured Sushmita Dev, that the document would be furnished once the situation improved. However, despite yet another reminder from Dev on August 18, 2022, the DC Cachar failed to provide the documents.

Expressing frustration over the lack of transparency, Dev wrote, “I am entitled to (the documents) not just as a Member of Parliament but as a citizen of India” and further attached the list of documents she was seeking.