Palpable tension gripped Ghumer and Aainlatunga villages in Patnagarh block of the district on Tuesday after farmers ploughed the land they were allegedly duped by Agra and Mumbai-based companies.
After waiting in vain for justice for more than seven years, the farmers led by the president of district Samajwadi Party, Arun Mishra, tilled their lands.
Although the farmers had earlier made attempts to reclaim their land, the police asked both the parties to move court to resolve the matter.
While the farmers claimed that they had given 527 acres on lease for Jatropha plantation, investigation revealed that the companies had actually bought them.
The then Balangir Collector S Santhagopalan had stopped registration of the land and subsequent inquiry by Revenue Divisional Commissioner (ND) found that the companies had duped the farmers.
The land row remained unsolved with the RDC report sent to the State Government gathering dust.
Patnagarh SDPO Laxminarayan Panda said the incident was a political stunt by Mishra and hardly has anything to do with the welfare of the farmers. He said action would be initiated against the wrongdoers.