Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Memorandum submitted to Chief Minister, Odisha on Land Scam

Memorandum submitted to Chief Minister, Odisha by Civil Society Groups demanding  immediate arrest of Ministers, MLAs, Officers involved in grabbing land illegally and CBI enquiry into land scam

Mass  Rally  and Demonstration was organised on 22 September 2015 under the  banner of 30 Social  Action Groups  demanding enquiry into irregularities and illegalities in respect of allotment of land/plot by GA Department, BDA,CDA and IDCO by CBI  and immediate arrest of Ministers, MLAs, Fraud Babas and Private Institutions illegally occupying Govt. land. Rally with participation of hundreds of the people and social activists started from Ram Mandir square  and reached  at lower PMG at 12 noon. Then mass meeting was organised under presidentship of Pradip Pradhan, State Convener, Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan and many activists like Ashok Mallik, Pratap Sahu, Sudhir Mohanty, Arun Swain, Sanjay Sahu, Sachikant Pradhan, Dibakar Nayak, Abdul Walli  and others spoke  in the meeting. A four-member delegation headed by Pratap sahu visited secretariat and presented Memorandum  in the  Secretariat.  

Background of Mass Demonstration
CAG report which was presented  in the Assembly in 2014  has exposed in graphic details the instances of   corruption, irregularities, undue favour, violation of law and arbitrariness in respect of allotment of Government land to the Individuals, Private Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Hotels among others. The CAG has also pointed out a systemic failure as evident from callousness and inefficiency along with complicity of the administration, which has resulted in revenue loss to the State exchequer amounting to a staggering sum of thousands of crore rupees. For your kind information, the CAG Expose is just a tip of the iceberg as its audit was limited to only a few Test cases. With undeniable proofs and evidences, it has also brought to the limelight how a dubious nexus among the vested interests of the politicians, bureaucrats and business class has been systematically working to loot and plunder the public wealth of Odisha.

After this expose, the political parties and Civil Society Groups reacted strongly and demanded CBI inquiry into such huge irregularities and illegalities  in respect  of allotment of land in Bhubaneswar  and Cuttack. Smelling trouble from public reaction, the Govt. constituted Task Force in August 2014 which submitted its report in Nov. 2014.  Then, following the recommendation of Task Force, the State Govt. came out with Action Taken Report in Dec. 14. Though around eight months passed, the State Govt. has not been able to retain a single decimal of land or to arrest single illegal occupant of the land.

On the other hand, on media expose  about  huge  land illegally  occupied  by fraud Sarathi Baba and Sura  Baba,  the  State  Govt.  not only  ordered  for crime branch enquiry but resumed  the encroached land immediately and arrest  both fraud Babas. But  irony is that  though there is full proof about land illegally encroached by Swami Shankaranand Giri, president of Kriya Yoga Foundation Trust and Baba Aviram, the State administration has not been able to take any steps to recover the land from them. Rather the Govt. is leaving no stone unturned to protect them. Similarly, though land scam of Satish Gajbhiye, suspended IPS officer has been proved, the State Govt.  is yet to arrest  him and recover the land from him.   

Few examples about callousness and involvement of Govt. in promoting and protecting land grabbers and illegalities in allotment of land in different parts of the state is  cited herewith.

a. Sri Pramod Mallik, MLA of Niali constituency has illegally encroached two acres of Gochar land  in his village Kulashree of Niali Block. Though the villagers have filed complaints since few months, Tahasildar has neither conducted any enquiry nor taken any steps to resume the land from him.

b. In 1957,  Dr. Harekrustan Mohatab has  given  some areas of land  to the people of  Nayapaslli  Bhoi Sahi for social function  and playground  for the  Children. Now, the State has forcibly occupied the land for   use of Nayapalli Police station.  The inhabitants of Bhoi Sahi have strongly objected it.

Our  demands

  1. As the State Govt.  has miserably  failed to protect the land of the state  from  land grabbers and take any steps  against the Ministers, MLAs and officers involved in irregularities and illegalities  in respect of allotment of land,  there is no option  except ordering CBI enquiry  into  land scam in Odisha.
  2. Take immediate action to arrest Sri Satish Gajbhiye, suspended IPS officer, Aviram Baba and Swami Shankaranand Giri and resume the land illegally occupied by them.
  3. Put in public domain details of the land owned and illegally occupied by Baba, Ashram, Matha and Mandir in different districts of the state within 15 days.
  4. Withdraw the Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, 2015 which is anti-people and anti-poor.
  5. When a few powerful people are allotted huge quantity of valuable land at throw away price, the poor, tribals, Dalits and landless are not provided   few dcml Land despite their hard effort since last 40 years. They are running from pillar to post to get few square foot of land for their survival.  In this context, the state Govt. should allot land to the dalits, tribals, and landless people within 3 months after conducting thorough survey in every Gram Panchayat.
  6. Order immediately for enquiry into illegalities and irregularities in allotment of land to KIIT by IDCO and take action against Achyut Samant.
  7. Restore Govt. quarters from the Ministers, MLAs and Officials who  have taken plot/ land  and constructed building  and given rent to others.

Pradip Pradhan, M-9937843482
Plot No-D-27, Maitree Vihar
Post-Rail Vihar, Bhubaneswar-23
Date-22.09.2015

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