Ghangapatna land grab: Odisha govt orders Crime Branch probe

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Aug 28:

After coming under fire for the alleged involvement of his party leaders in the grabbing of 100 acres of land at Ghangapatna, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik today ordered a Crime Branch probe into the case in a move meant to pacify the outrage among the public and save the government’s skin.

Controversial road to controversial plots
Controversial road to controversial plots

The chief minister has asked the CB to submit a report within two months and has asserted that action will be taken against the persons found involved in the report.

Meanwhile, the government has asked officials to initiate disciplinary action and lodge criminal case against the concerned sub-registrar, tehsildar, additional tehsildar and Revenue Inspector (RI), who have already been suspended.

It also ordered action against the persons responsible for illegally constructing a 1.3 km stretch of road to connect the encroached land.

It is to be noted that ruling party politicians, bureaucrats and several influential persons have grabbed more than 100 acres of land in Ghangapatna on the outskirts of the capital city illegally. There was also a road constructed spending money from MGNREGS fund.

Though the land was categorised as ‘jungle kissam’ (forest type) in the records, it belonged to the Revenue department and had been categorized as anabadi.

The opposition parties and different organisations have been demanding a CBI probe into the land scam, in which, they claim, the chief minister is directly involved and is trying to shield the influential persons.

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