The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recommended that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) should probe widespread irregularities in granting compensation to people who lost lands during the construction of Hemavathy, Yagachi and Vatehole reservoirs.
Land for the construction of the three reservoirs in Hassan district was acquired in 1970, due to which 22,640 acres of land belonging to 172 villages and hamlets submerged.
Criminal cases should be registered against officials who granted compensatory land meant for those who were displaced because of the projects, to ineligible beneficiaries, the PAC said in a report tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
Measures should also be initiated to ensure that genuine land losers are compensated as per law, it said.
Those affected by the construction of the dam were to be rehabilitated in different parts of Hassan district. Five decades since the land acquisition, the process of granting compensatory land is yet to be completed, the PAC found.
Irregularities in granting land for the genuine land losers were first detected in 1982 when a House Committee headed by SR Bommai submitted a report to the government. It so happens that Bommai's son Basavaraj Bommai is now the chief minister.
Apart from allegations of forgery during granting land to ineligible beneficiaries, PAC noted that documents were inadequate even in cases where beneficiaries were eligible for compensation.
PAC also found that there was little progress in initiating action against officials for forgery and dereliction of duty while granting land, despite recommendations. "The Revenue Department has not taken adequate action in 2,370 cases of land grant to ineligible beneficiaries," the report added.
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