PHULBANI: AT least 7,625 families staying on encroached land in Phulbani town are apprehensive that they would be evicted anytime soon. The rampant encroachment in the town is posing a serious problem and authorities concerned are yet to take any steps to put an end to the mess.
Sources said in Phulbani Municipality area, about 1,000 acres of lands are under the clutches of encroachers for more than three decades. Out of 10,227 families, 7,625 are staying on encroached plots and only 2,601 have land titles. As most of the lands in the town belong to SC and ST communities, people from other castes constructed houses on the land without any official permission and records.
As per Government norms, the SC and ST communities’ land cannot be purchased by a person of general caste without obtaining a permission through a cumbersome procedure.
On the other hand, the land of general caste people, having title rights, is priced high and it becomes difficult on the part of a middle-class and lower middle-class to purchase a plot. It is found that several plots, which were illegally occupied having no title rights, are being rampantly sold in the town.
Despite several demands to settle the problem of encroachments, no step has been taken so far. The encroached lands are of different types such as pasture, burial ground, village forest, moor and revenue land. Even the lands, which were already alienated to different government offices, were also encroached by the people.
The people’s representatives of the district on several occasions have tried to bring the issue to the notice of the State Government for an early solution, but to no avail.
In 2013 and 2014, the district administration had also recommended that the encroached lands be settled in favour of persons residing on it for the last 30 years or more.
People residing on illegally occupied plots for years together are apprehensive that the administration can evict them from the plot unless there is a government policy for its settlement. Besides, the Odisha Land Grabbing Act, 2015 has increased their problems as the law imposes imprisonment of seven years and a fine on land encroachers.
Meanwhile, members of Nagarika Manch and Vikas Parishad have demanded that lands be settled under the amnesty scheme (Sarbakhyama Yojana).