The General Administration (GA) Department has sought old revenue records, as old as 80 years, to restore Government lands which have been illegally alienated to private persons in Bhubaneswar. The lands are located in six revenue villages of Chandrasekharpur, Pandara, Damana, Gadakana, Patia and Sampur.
All these villages were part of the undivided Puri district before Khurda district was carved out. The GA Department has sought various categories of records from Puri collector so that it could match the same with the current status and seek restoration. Three categories of records __ Hal, Sabik and Pre-Sabik __ have been sought by the department. Some records are contemporary while others are pretty old.
For Chandrasekharpur, Pandara and Damana revenue villages, records have been sought from 1929-30 which pertains to Pre-Sabik, from 1973-74 for Sabik and from 1988-89 for Hal. For Gadakana, Patia and Sampur, records relating to Sabik and Hal have been sought. In a letter to Puri collector, the GA Department said the Government wants restoration of the illegally-alienated lands for which it is essential to make the Hal-Sabik comparison so that restoration petitions can be filed.
The GA Department has a special cell which is mandated with restoring the illegally- alienated vacant Government land. Such has been the extent of illegal alienation in and around the City that the Government had asked the Crime Branch to probe eight cases. The CBI too is carrying out investigation into similar cases.
Recently, a special team was constituted by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department to assess the extent of encroachment around the City and submit a report. An assessment said that over 2.42 lakh acre Government land was under illegal occupation out of which 91,700-odd acres have been recovered.
