THOUSANDS ACRES OF BOODAN LAND WILL BE RESTORED IN ODISHA

THOUSANDS ACRES OF BOODAN LAND WILL BE RESTORED IN ODISHA 13/04/2012

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA

ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANESWAR:

The Odisha government has decided to restore thousands of acres of Bhoodan land in the state. Revenue and disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patro on Wednesday directed the collectors and tehsildars to submit a status report on Bhoodan land in three months. Briefing newsmen after presiding over a high-level meeting held at the State Secretariat here, the minister said the land earmarked to be handed over to Bhoodan Yagna Samitee (BYS) has not been done yet.

Out of about 58,000 acres of Bhoodan land, only 10,000 acres of land are now under government control. The status of remaining 48,000 acres is not clear. Major portion of the land have allegedly been encroached. Patra said that after getting the status of the land from the Collectors and Tehsildars, physically verification will be carried out.

If the Bhoodan land is found to be encroached, steps will be taken to evict the land grabbers, he added. The officials have been directed to file status report of 16,000 acres of land every month. It may be noted here that Bhoodan movement was launched in the state in 1952. Though a total of five lakh acres of Bhoodan was targeted to be collected by movement leader Vinoba Bhave, 1.2 lakh acres were acquired.

In course of time, the land was encroached by land mafia. Last year, the state government had banned registration of Bhoodan land.

Regarding grabbing of Bhoodan land by Odisha Engineering College, it was revealed at the meeting that the College encroached about 50 acres. Three cases of encroachment have been filed against the college authorities.

It was also revealed at the meeting that a mobile tower constructed in government land at Penthakata in Puri had been demolished.

Similarly, about 110 cases of land encroachment have been filed in Siddha Mahavira area. Besides the Bhoodan land, illegal mining was also discussed at the meeting. The collectors of Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur and Nayagarh districts have been issued notices to take action against illegal mining.