Our Correspondent
Kiphire | May 29
Established in 1978 and upgraded to Executive Engineer in the year 1997, the Public Health Engineer Department (PHED), Kiphire has not been able to function in their departmental office building till date. They have instead been functioning in a rented house due to encroachment of the department’s land.
Of the 10.25 acres of land, for which the department paid compensation of Rs 20,500/- through cheque no. 002141/214029 as per departmental official record of 1979, only a few acres remain with the department.
The rest have been encroached upon by other departments and private parties. Private buildings, church building, government school building, departmental quarter and offices of different departments have been constructed on this land without the knowledge of the PHED.
While the PHED had constructed its office building in the year 2006-07, the road leading to the office was blocked by private buildings. This forced the department to move its operations to a rented house, since 2006, shelling out lakhs of rupees per year incurring a heavy loss to the state exchequer.
Department officials have also accepted that due to the negligence of successive officers in the department, massive encroachment has taken place in the department land. However, the officials expressed hope that government would step in, since the department’s record on acquisition of the land are clear.
Officers of the department also opined that civil societies and leaders should help the department, if developmental activities are to take place in the district, because without land, the department would not be able to do anything. They added that the PHED case is unique as the department has already compensated the land owners.
