BERHAMPUR: After a week-long face-off over acquisition of a government land encroached by villagers of Anangdunguru in Mohona block, the Gajapati administration managed an amicable solution on Sunday.
Residents of the village agreed to part with the encroached government land, after the district administration assured them of providing employment besides separate land for pursuing agricultural activities.
As per sources, around 34 families have been residing in the village and undertaking cultivation on a patch of around 12.27 acre government land for the last two decades. However, the district administration recently earmarked around 9.36 acre of the said land for a health resort.
The land acquisition work was entrusted to IDCO but, when the officials reached the area for land demarcation a few days back, villagers protested the move stating it would affect their livelihood. On last Thursday, when district administration officials, IDCO and police reached the village again, they were faced with stiff protest.
Locals demanded that they would vacate the land only if the district administration provided each family with 10 acre land elsewhere. As the situation grew tense, sub-collector Anup Panda imposed section 163 of BNS on the said encroached patch.
On the day, officials of the district administration along with police reached the spot again to acquire the land. When the locals protested, they were assured that each family would be provided employment at the proposed resort.
Mohana tehsildar Chakradhar Padhi said the families which had been cultivating on the encroached land would also be provided a designated space each to take up agriculture.