Money
NOC land deal brings probe team to field
The probe team formed by the parliamentary Industry, Commerce and Consumer Welfare Committee to investigate on controversial land deal by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) carried out the field based inspection in Bhairahawa, on Tuesday.Madhav Dhungana
The probe team formed by the parliamentary Industry, Commerce and Consumer Welfare Committee to investigate on controversial land deal by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) carried out the field based inspection in Bhairahawa, on Tuesday. Local people living in the area claimed that the purchased land was not suitable to install petroleum storage plants.
The NOC had started the process of buying land to build oil storage facilities in all seven provinces following the government’s instruction to maintain fuel stock for at least 90 days. It then issued a tender notice to purchase 24 bighas of land each in Chitwan and Jhapa. Similarly, it bought 20 bighas of land each in Bhairahawa and Sarlahi. As per the local people in proposed location in Bhairahawa, more than 14 bigaha of land that NOC purchased there do not have easy road access. They also remarked that the site is prone to possible flooding.
Although NOC has been claiming that it had purchased the land through legal process and at lower market prices, the state-owned oil monopoly has been accused for purchasing land at inflated prices. It has been alleged for misappropriation of around Rs 800 million while buying land worth Rs1.61 billion in four places.
The parliamentary probe team has been investigating the scam on suspicions that NOC had purchased land through middleman and land brokers just to receive the monetary benefit through inflated prices. Expressing their woes before the probe team members, the local people blamed NOC for forcefully purchasing the land against the desire of the land owners.
Laxman Chai, former vice-chairman of Patkhauli Village Development Committee, said NOC employed brokers who threatened land owners into selling their land to the state-enterprise. “From every angle, the land that NOC had purchased is not appropriate for constructing fuel storage plant,” he said.