BHUBANESWAR: Even as Khurda Collector Niranjan Sahu failed to submit a report to the State Government on the controversial Government land acquired by two BJD leaders at Ghangapatna on Saturday, BJP activists along with locals demolished the boundary wall constructed on the land and dug up the approach road.
Shouting anti-Government slogans, BJP activists under the leadership of party’s Khurda district unit president Sudipta Ray blocked the road connecting the encroached land with the city and demolished the boundary wall.
The agitated villagers and BJP workers damaged the road laid on the forest category land. The road is stated to have been constructed by Panchayati Raj Department under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme.
“The villagers demolished the boundary wall to free their village land. We only helped them in freeing the land from the clutches of powerful land grabbers,” Ray told this paper.
The villagers demanded that the land scam should be investigated by CBI and the culprits taken to task as per the law.
Accusing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of presiding over a corrupt Government, the BJP leader said many bureaucrats including staff of the Chief Minister’s office have acquired huge landed property in and around the city.
The State unit of BJP also decided to stage a dharna near Raj Bhavan on Tuesday demanding a CBI probe into the land scam. The CAG has already opened the lid of the land scam in which ruling BJD Ministers, MPs, legislators and senior bureaucrats are involved, said BJP spokesperson Samir Mohanty.
Meanwhile, Khurda Collector on Saturday held a series of meetings with district officials of Revenue, Forest, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development departments to find out the kisam of land and the agency which constructed the approach road.
The non-submission of the report by the Collector on Saturday is attributed to additional information on the land sought by Revenue Additional Chief Secretary Taradatt. Sahu is likely to submit the report on Monday.