A massive land scam has come to the fore near AIIMS-Bhubaneswar in the capital city after the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan (OSSA), a forum of RTI activists, on Sunday alleged illegal conversion of government land at the behest of influential persons including politicians and IPS officers.
A stretch of 7.5 acre of government land has been sold and resold as many as 27 times. The beneficiaries of the proceeds included four IPS officers and powerful people including politicians owing close rapport with the previous BJD Government.
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The scale of the land scam is estimated at Rs 250 crore as per the current market price, alleged Srikant Pakal, joint convenor of OSSA.
Despite the land grabbing being detected by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Tehsil in 2021, the concerned authorities have shied away from reclaiming the government land from illegal possession of land grabbers.
The inaction on the part of government agencies in evicting the squatters and initiating action under the Odisha Prevention of Land Acquisition (OPLE) Act is solely due to the power and influence exerted by the land grabbers, Pakal maintained.
The valuable land was illegally leased out in 1978 by then Tehsildar to influential persons who faked being landless. Later, acting on public complaints, the lease was canceled by the then Bhubaneswar Sub Collector 2002.
Thereafter, the land was sold and resold several times on the strength of a forged record of rights. Among the influential persons involved in the dubious land deal included at least four IPS officers with one of them still in service, he alleged seeking a high-level probe for reclaiming of the land from the illegal occupiers.
