BARIPADA: The slum dwellers residing in areas under Baripada municipal limits staged a demonstration in front of the collectorate on Monday demanding patta for the landless. The protestors, under the aegis of Baripada Pouranchala Patta Bihina Basinda Development Trust, took out a rally from Haribaldev Jew temple to the collectorate before staging the protest.
Trust president Nanda Mohapatra said the civic body had launched a door-to-door survey last year and listed the landless people residing in slum pockets for a permanent settlement of land rights but neither the district administration nor the municipality has provided the records yet despite repeated requests and meetings with officers concerned.
Some councillors had assured the beneficiaries that land documents would be given after the general election. But, nothing has been provided as yet, he alleged. Trust secretary Kanhu Charan Behera said the landless dwellers have been residing on Government land since long and have earned the right to get pattas as permanent settlers after State Government had on August 10, 2017 announced to provide land to the landless under Land Rights Act.
“If immediate measures are not taken, all the landless people in the town will intensify the agitation,” said Behera. The protestors also gave a memorandum to Governor and Chief Minister of the State though collector.