Bijoy Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 1: The state cabinet today decided to take back land leased out to industries if it remains unutilised for three years.

The move comes in the backdrop of the accountant general (AG) of Odisha pulling up the state government for its faulty industrialisation policy and indiscriminate allotment of land.

The state cabinet also took many decisions, including putting a halt to outsourcing of personnel to engage them in various departments. On the other hand, efforts would be made to regularise jobs of nearly 40,000 people, who have already been engaged on contract.

Speaking on the land issue, chief secretary Bijoy Patnaik said: “We will ask the concerned agency to showcause as to why the leased out land should not be reverted. If it fails to give satisfactory explanation, the state government will take back the land. The concerned tehsildar will take a decision in this regard. Necessary amendment will be made to the Government Land Settlement Act.”

The state has so far signed 93 MoUs with private companies from 2001 to 2012 in various sectors. The AG also raised the questions as to how the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha unauthorisedly permitted the promoters to mortgage the allotted land with various banks to get loans though no such commitment had been made in the MoUs. However, the chief secretary said today’s cabinet decision had nothing to do with the AG’s observation.

He also said the move had nothing to do with ownership of land of individuals for home construction purposes. If a landless person fails to construct his house on the allotted government land, he will not lose his land, he said.

Patnaik said steps would be taken to regularise the job of contractual employees engaged in various departments across the state.

The chief secretary said the government would stop hiring people on contract basis.

The state cabinet also gave its nod to implement the Supreme Court’s guidelines while issuing birth and death certificates. “Names of both the parents will be mentioned in the certificates.”

Moreover, the state government has decided to create storage space for nearly 1.12 lakh metric tonnes of food grains.

It also gave its nod to set up a new Odisha Transport Traffic Enforcement Cadre to strengthen the traffic system in the state.