Surya Narayan Patro and Prasad Harichandan

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 17: Revenue minister Surya Narayan Patro admitted that government land worth over Rs 10,000 crore is under encroachment at various places, including Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

The minister stated this in the state Assembly while responding to the Opposition charge that the government had turned a blind eye to land grabbing and rather shielded the encroachers.

“Our government is very serious about retrieving the encroached land,” said the minister adding that the government was contemplating to bring out a stringent legislation to prevent land encroachment.

“The government’s claim to have taken strong measures to free land from encroachment is an eyewash. In fact, no visible action has been taken against land grabbers,” said Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan.

The Opposition leader pointed out that of 60 land scam cases handed over to the crime branch police for investigation, no visible progress had been made in 59 cases.

“It seems the government has handed over the cases to the crime branch to shield land grabbers,” he said.

“The government is rather handing over the land to the encroachers silently by not contesting the cases,” said Harichandan.

Citing an instance, he said the government had not gone for appeal against ex-parte decree passed by the court of civil judge (senior division) in favour of encroachers in 11 cases in Bhubaneswar during 2005-11.

“However, the government was very eager to go for an appeal in the Supreme Court for Vedanta Alumina Limited,” he said sarcastically.

Harichandan said that the file seeking sanction for prosecution against senior government officials involved in grabbing 2,823 acres near Puri had been pending with the chief minister’s office for months.

Similarly, the Cuttack collector has failed to comply with Orissa High Court order to inquire into the alleged encroachment of 300 acres of government land in and around the millennium city.

Aggrieved over the delay, the high court had reportedly asked the collector to submit his report by January failing which it would be forced to hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Opposition members said.

The administration has not only handed over irrigated land under Rengali irrigation project to two private companies, but also leased out Swargadwar cremation ground land to private and commercial establishments, they said.

Rebuffing the Opposition allegation, revenue minister Patro said: Our government is committed to protect the government land. Stern action will be taken if any instance of illegal land grabbing or leasing out comes to our notice.”

The minister told the House that over 3.26 crore cases had been filed under Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment Act to retrieve 10.52 million acres of government land under encroachment across the state.

So far, over 1.81 crore cases had been disposed and 91,734 acres of land had been freed from encroachment. The government had taken steps for recovery of 9,454 acres of encroached government land through a special cell set up under the revenue department, he added.