AG blasts Odisha govt policy on land to industries

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 16:

Accountant General Amar Patnaik has written to Odisha chief secretary Gokul Chndra Pati seeking to know the basis on which IDCO allots land to some industries or rejects claims of others without assigning any reason.

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In his letter to the chief secretary, the AG has advised the state government to come out with a transparent and unambiguous policy on land allotment to industries by IDCO.

Raising questions on the transparency of the practice adopted for allotment of land to industries by IDCO, the AG has said in his letter that undue favours had been shown to some companies in allotment of land.

The letter said out of 1, 245 applications made for industrial land, 714 applications have been cancelled without assigning any reason, 72 of them have been kept under hold while the applications of 45 industrial enterprises have been cancelled, dropped or kept on hold for no reason.

The AG has asked the state government to scrutinize and review each and every application again and prepare an action taken report on it, which will be submitted to the Public Accounts Committee of the Odisha Assembly.

KVK Nilachal Power, GMR Energy and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) had applied for allotment of land from IDCO to establish a power plant at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal district. The Central Electricity Authority had recommended allotment of the land in favour of OHPC. However, the state government had rejected it by claiming that IDCO had entered into an agreement with GMR Energy to allot the land to it earlier and a MoU was also inked for the puprpose.

The AG has pointed out how the state government allotted the said land in favour of a private company by showing undue favour at the cost of a government-run company.

Enclosing a list of 714 applications by industrial enterprises seeking land for industrial use, the AG has asked IDCO have an independent policy for allotment of land for industries.

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