Bhubaneswar, Sept. 21: Sasadhar Mallick, a resident of Cuttack who recently bought a plot near Patia, has been making rounds of the district sub-registrar’s office for the last 20 days. But he has not been able to register his land as the ceasework by deed writers and lawyers at all sub-registrar’s offices in Khurda district entered its 20th day today.

“In 20 days, I went to the sub-registrar’s office seven times. But every time, I was asked to return after two days. As a result, I am yet to register my land,” he said.

Many others are also being forced to return without registering their land because of the agitation. The deed writers, lawyers and stamp vendors have been on a ceasework since September 2 after the district administration raised the benchmark valuation of land in Khurda district.

The agitators alleged that the district administration had arbitrarily hiked the land valuation, which would adversely affect the buyers. “The government had hiked land prices by 10 per cent in April, only to increase it again arbitrarily in September. We will move the high court challenging the hike,” said president of Bhubaneswar Notary Association Tusharkanti Mohapatra.

He also said the district administration showed no willingness to put an end to the deadlock through talks. Sources in the district sub-registrar’s office said on an average, nearly 400 people registered their land at the two registration offices in Bhubaneswar every day.

While the district sub-registrar’s office generates daily revenue of about Rs 50 lakh, the Khandagiri sub-registrar’s office generates about Rs 30 lakh a day. The rates have now hit the roof following the revision on land evaluation prices on September 1.

For example, the government land valuation has increased to Rs 8 crore per acre in Nayapalli revenue village from Rs 6 crore in 2010.

However, state revenue and disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patro said that the government was looking into the matter. “The government used to lose a huge revenue because of low cost of land. So, it had become necessary to raise the value of land,” said Patro.