Paradip, June 8: The state government is involved in a land tangle for resettling about 5,000 fishermen families, who have unlawfully settled on government land at Sandhakuda slums colony in Paradip port town.

As Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) gears up to undertake projects such as the sea surge protection wall and the laying of the underground pipelines for the oil refinery project, eviction notices have been served on the land encroachers in Sandhakuda.

The fishermen are willing to part with the 266 acre of encroached land. But they have stepped up their demand for resettlement before the government acquires the land for the refinery project.

Authorities here are in a quandary because there is hardly any government land available to relocate the fishermen families living in the Sandhakuda slums for over four decades. To make the matters worse, affected fishermen have resolved not to budge an inch till they were resettled.

About 455 families, mostly migrant Bengali and Telugu-speaking people, occupy the 264 acre patch of land in Sandhakuda. The state government was the original owner of the land. But it was leased out to the Port Trust after it came up in 1964. However, the number of encroachers have increased over the years. “The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) had left the land vacant without carrying out its infrastructure development projects,” Kujang tehsildar Vasudev Pradhan said.

“Though the affected settlers have no lawful right over the encroached government land as per the apex court directives, we have thought of rehabilitating them subject to the availability of land. It was to be done purely under humanitarian consideration. However, land at Balijhari and Kansarapatia is presently not available,” he said.

The encroachers have been served notices under Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment (OPLE) Act, 1972, asking them to vacate the land at the earliest. “If they do not do so on their own, they will be forcefully evicted,” said Saroj Kanta Choudhury, additional district magistrate, Paradip.

“However the state government is sensitive to the issue as the said slum is home to over 8,000 settlers. We are in search of land to resettle them. However, they have to vacate the land as per law,” ADM Choudhury maintained.

“In the past months, we have launched our programme to resist eviction. With the administration planning to evict them forcefully, the agitation would be intensified,” said K. Jagannath Rao, ex-councillor, Paradip municipality.

The people living in Sandhakuda are the lifeline of Paradip Port Township. Both the skilled and unskilled labour forces from here come handy for construction activities.

Majority of them are in possession of Voters’ identity cards and public distribution system ration cards, said the councillor.