Congress workers bring down the boundary wall and (right) plant saplings on controversial road built on forest land on Bhubaneswar outskirts. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 27: Led by Congress activists, residents of Ghangapatna village on the outskirts of the city, today staged a demonstration and demolished a wall raised on the part of the 100 acres of controversial land.

The land had allegedly been encroached by some influential people.

Congress workers supported the cause of local residents and planted saplings there.

“After we came to know that some influential people had grabbed the land here, we decided to take up this issue. The people demolished the wall and planted saplings,” said senior Congress leader and former minister Suresh Routray. He said that they would distribute 50 decimal of the land each to local people and encourage them take up agricultural activities there.

The Congress leader alleged that the place used to have peacocks, but the birds don’t arrive here anymore due to construction activities by the land grabbers. “It’s not 100 acres, but about 1,200acres that has been illegally taken away by the influential people,” said Routray.

The BJP today staged a demonstration in front of Dharmasala tehsil office in Jajpur district and demanded a CBI probe. The party alleged that Dharmasala MLA Pranab Balabantaray and his father Rajya Sabha member Kalpataru Das grabbed land and plots in Jajpur district and also in the Ghangapatna village near Bhubaneswar.

In another development, local people in Khurda district today demolished boundary wall built by a company on 60 acres of land and they also set ablaze the rest shed built there by a company.

Khurda police chief Dillip Das said: “The people are protesting against the acquisition of land by the company. We have told them to lodge their protest legally. But they have taken the law into their hands today.”

Sources said the local people were agitated after the government handed over the land, which they claim belongs to the Lord Jagannath temple in Puri, to a private company.