BALASORE: Even as Odisha government battles intrusion from south side in the Kotia panchayat, its West Bengal (WB) counterpart made an attempt to construct an unauthorised structure at Udaipur beach which was stopped by the Balasore administration on Wednesday. Udaipur beach comes under Bhograi block of Jaelswar tehsil. The watchtower at the beach had collapsed after being hit by cylone Yaas and damaged the adjoining boundary wall.
The Public Works Department of West Bengal without intimating the Balasore administration apparently started construction of a wall by intruding almost 50 feet into Odisha territory. The work started on Monday and was being carried out only in the night hours by using JCB machines. As soon as the information reached, additional tehsildar Santosh Kumar Panigrahi and local Revenue Inspector (RI) visited the spot and stopped the construction work.
Territorial conflict between Jaleswar tehsil in Balasore district and Dantul tehsil in WB’s Paschim Medinipur district dates back to 1926 over rampant sand mining by the latter from river Subarnarekha in Odisha. Despite mutual agreement in 2011 that none of the government will construct anything in the disputed area, unauthorised activities have been going on for some time in Sahabajipur village.
On November 6, 2020, villagers had stopped forceful eviction of certain families by the WB government officials. “WB government is violating the agreement and unlawfully constructing the wall by intruding into our land and that should be stopped,” said Abani Patta, a Bhograi local. Contacted, Bhabesh Nayak, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Balasore said, “For now the construction has been stopped and we will take up the matter with our counterparts in East-Medinipur district. The next step will be decided after a joint discussion on land demarcation.”