Odisha govt to take over 70 acres of illegally acquired Ghangapatna land

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Aug 26:

After finding himself in the dock for delaying the inquiry into the Ghangapatna land grabbing case, Revenue Minister Bijayshree Routray,in an apparent move to shield his party colleagues and bureaucrats, today said the 70 acres of land fraudulently acquired in the area would be taken back by the government after inquiry.

“Even though the inquiry process is yet to be completed, preliminary report suggests that 607 acres and 888 decimal land is in possession of Revenue department in the area and some of the land had been leased out at different occasions. However, over 70 acres land has been identified, which are in doubtful position and may have been illegally transferred,” Routray told media persons here.

The minister said that the land would be taken over by the government, if the department found any land deal over the leased out area.

He, however, said the department is yet to receive any information about the leased area and who it was allocated to. “The inquiry is on over the issue. Besides, we have asked the district level committee to give details whether there is any forest land or not in Khatiyan 613 to 618. No one has received any permission for construction activity either from the Forest department or the Revenue department,” said the minister.