BHUBANESWAR : The Assembly had to be adjourned several times on Tuesday as leader of the Congress legislature party (CLP) Narasingha Mishra staged a dharna in the well of the House demanding that land acquired by the state government for the proposed university by Vedanta group in Puri district should be returned to the farmers.
Raising the issue during zero hour, Mishra demanded that speaker Pramila Mallik should issue a direction in this regard to the state government. Alleging that land was handed over to the group fraudulently, he demanded that a Vigilance inquiry should be ordered to fix responsibility on officials involved in the process.
Even as speaker Pramila Mallik said she would examine the matter and give a ruling within the budget session, Mishra insisted that it should be done on Tuesday itself. Mishra, the lone Congress member in the House, rushed to the well demonstrating and sat on dharna.
He informed the House that the Supreme Court had, in April 2023, termed the acquisition of land for the proposed project as illegal. The Orissa High Court had, in 2010, quashed the process of land acquisition for the proposed university and directed the authorities to return the land to their owners. Reading out from the judgements of the Lok Pal, Orissa High Court and the Supreme Court, Mishra alleged Odisha government has been reluctant to return the land to farmers, despite court orders.
The CLP leader alleged that though Vedanta wanted only 3,000 acre of land for its “world-class university” project near Konark, the state government handed over 10,000 acre of land to the company. Out of this 6,000 acre belonged to the farmers and Lord Jagannath, he stated.