Bijay tears into Odisha govt, CM, demands CBI probe into allotment of land, plots

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Aug 1:

Launching a scathing attack on Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik for maintaining a ‘strange’ silence over misuse of discretionary quota by his party men and several bureaucrats, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra today demanded the matter be handed over to the CBI to unravel the whole matter and take action against the culprits.

“Land mafias have virtually taken over the administration and the Third Floor ( CMO) has turned out to be their corporate office. This is  most unfortunate. Since only the CBI can unearth the truththe government should allow the Central investigating agency to inquire into it right from the year 2002, when the Odisha High Court ordered the state government to form a uniform policy for allocation of land. So, you don’t need to create drama, just order a CBI inquiry,”said Mohapatra at a press conference here.

He said that merely returning land/house by the law breakers after they are caught is not acceptable. They have to be taken to task and criminal action, initiated against them.

Informing that the High Court had directed the state government to form a master plan for Bhubaneswar for land allocation under discretionary quota in April 2002, Mohapatra questioned the chief minister’s silence over the matter until now.

He said no clearcut policy was drafted in the matter and that allowed the land grabbers to take away large chunks of lands without any sense of fear.

“My question is to the chief minister that why did you keep mum all these years ? What steps have you taken against the violators ?You are accountable and you must explain your position on the matter to the people,” said the senior BJP leader.

Quoting the CAG report which was tabled in the Assembly during the Budget Session, he said the report has tarnished the image of the government and exposed the so-called transparent facade of Naveen Patnaik.

“It’s the CAG, and not Bijay Mohapatra, which has said that you are not transparent. You ( Naveen Patnaik)  had evil intention. The CAG has made it clear that you have not followed the directives of High Court and Supreme Court and shubbed it under the carpet. The discretionary quota was also misused even after you headed a committee in 2010,” said Mohapatra.

He said  it is unfortunate that for the first time the CAG  named a minister for illegal possession of plots and houses by his family member.

Stating that the state government did not show any interest in cancelling the illefaly acquired plots and houses even after the CAG report , Mohapatra said “I don’t know in whose interest the government is not taking action against the violators.”