Bagapatia protest called off after Odisha govt accepts demands

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar/Rajnagar, Feb 14:

The nine-day long indefinite dharna in front of the Rajnagar Tehsil office by villagers of Bagapatia and Charigharia was called off on Friday after the Odisha government bowed to the demands of the protesters belonging to the two villages under Gupti panchayat in Kendrapada district.

Briefing newsmen after a high level meeting, presided over by Revenue minister Bijayshree Routray at his State Assembly chamber here, Kendrapara collector Pramod Kumar Das said the government had decided to honour the patta of the original residents of Bagapatia village.

Apart from this, the landless families of the village would be provided with agricultural land and 10 decimal of homestead land and included in the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana.

The meeting also decided to rehabilitate 72 families of Charigharia village along with the people of Satabhaya area of the district. The government would provide all facilities to these families, including electricity, Das said.

Among others, Rajnagar MLA Anshuman Mohanty, Aul MLA Debendra Sharma, additional chief secretary, Finance, Taradatt, Kendrapara SP SK Gajviye, Rajnagar DFO Kedarnath Swain, BJD leader Dhruba Sahu, Gupti sarpanch Sarada Lenka and representatives of Bagapatia and Charigharia villages were present at the meeting.

Following the announcement, the nine-day long agitation by the Bagapatia villagers came to an end.

It may be mentioned that the district administration had laid the foundation stone for rehabilitation of the people of Satabhaya area, which is threatened by sea erosion at an area in Bagapatia village on June 8, 2011 .

Later, the district administration, in July last year, had begun the settlement process in which it disowned the land of the original residents of Bagapatia.

Following vehement protest by the villagers, the rehabilitation work was stalled.

On January 28 this year, a team comprising Kendrapara Sub Collector Kanhu Charan Dhir, additional sub collector Gagan Bihari Sahoo, tehsildar Kshirod Kumar Behera and revenue inspector (RI) Sanjib Kumar Sahoo visited the relocation site at Bagapatia with bulldozer and one platoon police force.

The district administration officials had identified 132. 97 acres of land on which fencing was to be done and illegal encroachment razed.

However, village elder Manguli Charan Parida, along with his over 300 supporters, blocked their entry and prevented them from performing their duties.

Later, Rajnagar Tehsildar Kshirod Kuamar Behera filed a written complaint with Rajnagar police station against Manguli. Acting on the complaint, Rajnagar IIC Bijay Kumar Mallick picked up Manguli from his house on February 4 and deployed two platoons police force in the village.

Protesting the arrest of Manguli, villagers of Bagapatia and Charigharia villages began an indefinite dharna in front of the tehsil office at Rajnagar on the next day demanding his unconditional release.

The villagers also demanded regularisation of patta issued to landless people by Kanika Tehsildar in 1974 and 1991 by Rajnagar Tehsildar, permanent patta to landless villagers taking refuge in Bagapatia and Charigharia villages after the 1971 cyclone and declare Bagapatia a revenue village.

Meanwhile, Manguli was released from Kendrapara jail on Friday after the local court granted him bail.