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Arunachal Pradesh villagers turn millionaires overnight. No it isn’t a lottery
Following the Sino-Indo war of 1962, the Indian Army had launched a land acquiring programme in Arunachal Pradesh to set up bases, construct roads, build bridges etc. in the border state in northeast.
Prem Dorjee Khrimey became a multimillionaire on Thursday, landing a windfall of ₹6.31 crore.
No, he didn’t take part in Kaun Banega Crorepati—the popular TV game show. Instead, it was compensation for land acquired from his family by the Indian Army around five decades ago.
The resident of Tukpen village in West Kameng district isn’t alone. Phuntso Khawa and Khandu Glow — from Singchung in the same district have also turned millionaires overnight. While Phuntso got ₹6.21 cr, Khandu became richer by ₹5.98 cr.
“The compensation has been possible because of love of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji for Arunachal,” chief minister Pema Khandu, tweeted.
Several other residents in both areas also bagged hefty sums, which were handed over by Arunachal Pradesh chief minister at two separate functions on Thursday. Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju was also present at both the functions.
“A total of ₹24.56 cr was handed out to five villagers at the event in Singchung while ₹13.17 cr was given to seven residents of Tukpen,” Sonal Swaroop, deputy commissioner of West Kameng, informed.
This isn’t the first instance of villagers in Arunachal Pradesh becoming millionaires — thanks to land acquisition by the Army since the early 1960s.
Following the Sino-Indo war of 1962, the Indian Army had launched a land acquiring programme in Arunachal Pradesh to set up bases, construct roads, build bridges etc. in the border state in northeast.
Until recently, the villagers hadn’t been paid. In April 2017, the Centre released ₹54 cr for 152 families of three villages of West Kameng district. In September last year, the Centre issued another set of notifications sanctioning release of ₹158 cr as compensation for private land taken over in Arunachal Pradesh by the army.
In February this year, ₹40.80 cr was handed over to 31 families of Bomja village in Tawang district. While 29 families got ₹1.09 cr each, one family got richer by ₹6.73 cr and another by 2.45 cr.
