Bulldozers to be used to raze illegal encroachment on govt land: Odisha minister
Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi had last week directed collectors of all districts to “free government land from encroachments across the state”
Bhubaneshwar: Odisha revenue and disaster management minister Suresh Pujari on Wednesday said bulldozers would be used to demolish illegal constructions on government land in the state.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, while speaking to media persons in Sambalpur on Wednesday, said earlier the structures of poor people, who had encroached upon small portions of land, were being evicted in the state, and now the action would be taken against the rich and other influential people in the state.
“In the last several years, huts and similar structures made by the poor people on small pieces of encroached land were being pulled down, while rich and influential elements were left untouched in the state in the past. However, the state government has now decided to take action against the rich and other influential people in the state,” said Pujari.
Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi had last week directed collectors of all districts to “free government land from encroachments across the state” while expressing serious concern over rampant unauthorised occupation of government land, which has hampered development works and public welfare programmes.
Pujari said that the CM had directed the collectors to protect government land after recovery from encroachers through suitable fencing and putting display boards, mentioning that unauthorised entry is a cognisable offence.
The Odisha government does not have concrete data or records of the extent of public land under encroachment as the last estimation of unauthorised occupation and encroachment of government land was done 13 years ago. Erstwhile revenue minister Surjya Narayan Patro told the state assembly in 2011 that the government identified a total of 242,000 acres of government land under unauthorised occupation, following which more than 326,000 cases were filed under the Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment (OPLE) Act. Of the 326,000 cases, over 181,000 were disposed of, and 91,734 acres of land were recovered.