Surya Narayan Patro

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 14: The Odisha government is planning to bring out a legislation to prevent encroachment of government land across the state.

Disclosing this in the state Assembly, Odisha revenue minister Surya Narayan Patro said the draft Bill was prepared on the lines of legislation in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

“The Bill will be introduced in the Assembly following approval by the state cabinet,” said the minister.

Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, 1972, and Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Rules, 1985, are in force for the purpose of retrieving encroached government land.

Steps are being taken to file encroachment cases by the tehsildars concerned to get back the encroached land as per the provisions of the above mentioned rules and laws, said Patro.

Officials, however, conceded that the provisions of the existing law were not stringent enough to prevent rampant encroachment of government land and involved time-consuming procedure to retrieve the land from the encroachers.

The revenue minister admitted in Assembly that over 2.42 crore acres had been encroached across the state. Of this, only 91,726 acres had been made free from encroachment.

So far, 3.16 crore encroachment cases have been filed of which 1.81 crore cases have been disposed of. Encroached government land has been retrieved in 1.41 crore cases, said the minister.

Official records revealed that Sundargarh district topped the list in government land encroachment (83, 462 acres), followed by Nabarangpur (37,542 acres).

“The process is on to retrieve all the encroached government land and the district collectors have been instructed to expedite the process,” said the minister.

However, cutting across party lines, members expressed concern over the rampant encroachment on government land in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other cities.

Patro, however, said he had only district-wise figures. “I will ask the officials to collect data regarding encroachment on government land in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and other major cities,” he said.

As per available official records, government land measuring 441 acres in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation limits have been under encroachment. Of this only eight acres have been restored.