NO SURVEY IN EROSION-HIT VILLAGES SINCE '89

Paradip, Aug. 6: The revenue administration department of Kendrapara district has served notices for collecting cess against land and registered cases against owners of land that has already been gobbled up by the sea.

To make matters worse, sea erosion-hit villagers are contending with litigation with the administration slapping cases under the Orissa Public Demand Recovery (OPDR) Act for non-payment of cess arrears.

Revenue collectors have asked landowners in the severely-affected Satabhaya gram panchayat to cough up cess against their land that has been consumed by the sea. In spite of the sea having eaten up land in the villages, land revenue records of the Gupti revenue circle in Rajnagar tehsil are yet to be redrawn.

The sea has gobbled up 4,300 acres (both private and government land) of Satabhaya gram panchayat. Around 2,100 acres of government land and 300 acres of privately-owned land has remained out of the sea's reach till now.

"The settlement of land in Satabhaya gram panchayat had last been conducted in 1989. Since then, no fresh survey has been conducted to measure the existing land in the sea erosion-hit villages. Revenue law binds us. The local administration is not empowered to remit land cess even though we are aware of the fact that the sea has dispossessed people of their ancestral land. Waiving of tax needs sanction from the state government," said Rajnagar tehsildar Khirod Kumar Behera. "The advancing sea has been consistently eating up land. It is quite unrealistic to ask the local people to pay cess. However, we are duty-bound to serve notices to the 'defaulting' landowners. Cases under OPDR Act have also been registered against the defaulters," said an official.

"Serving notices and instating OPDR provisions are a legal formalities. We are sensitive towards the people's plight. We have not initiated coercive action against anyone," said the tehsildar.

Revenue inspector, Gupti revenue circle, Rashmi Ranjan Mallik, said: "The revenue circle is serving notices for recovery of land-cess arrears from land-owners. A section of people are paying cess though they have lost their plots to the advancing sea."

"I lost my agricultural land to the sea in 1999. However, I am being asked to pay cess by the government agencies. It's a cruel joke," said Sudarshan Rout, a resident of Satabhaya village.

"To provide relief to the people from land cess burden, we are sending a proposal to revenue divisional commission (central) and member, board of revenue, for cess remission. The district administration is devoid of power to waive cess according to the land revenue law. The local tehsildar has been directed to compile a comprehensive report to expedite the cess remission," said Kendrapara collector Debraj Senapati.