By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:The CAG report was presented in the Assembly on the 28th. This report, which covered only 8 districts out of the 30 districts of the state, has exposed the corruption, mismanagement, etc. of the then BJD government. It has clearly revealed that there was widespread corruption and mismanagement in every sector, not only in mining and minerals, but also in drinking water, education, health, forest land, housing, land etc. Former MP and senior leader Shri Amar Patnaik has said that the BJD is the main culprit behind the illegal allocation and irregularities of government land.
In a press conference held at the state office today, Shri Patnaik said based on the CAG report that; Government land does not belong to the government, it belongs to the general public and society. The government is the only trustee of government land. Therefore, in the interest of the people of the state, the state government allocates land through IDCO or the Revenue Department for the establishment of any industry in the state. If all those industries are not established within the specified time limit of 3 years, the state government has reserved the power to take all that land into its own hands. But the then BJD government, in the interest of the people, IDCO violated this rule and imposed a five-year rule and in many cases the work would never be completed, and the time limit was not mentioned. In 2012-13-14-15, the then CAG repeatedly reprimanded the state government in this regard, but instead of taking any action, the BJD government remained silent, encouraged and protected the culprits. After 10 years, after examining and examining the current report of the CAG, the BJD’s ‘as before, and thereafter’ approach is clear. “Government land has been given to certain agencies, individuals and known companies at a price significantly lower than the market price.
The prescribed guidelines for land allocation, auction process and transparency have been completely ignored and allocated arbitrarily. Hundreds of crores of rupees of revenue have been lost due to not auctioning government land at the right price. The land for which it was given has been used for other commercial purposes instead of the purpose for which it was given. While the poor and middle class people have to run to government offices for years for a piece of land, expensive land has been easily given to people close to the then BJD government.” In land allocation, all the policies, rules and laws have been flouted and both government and private land has been looted. Even the simple, innocent poor people have not been spared. The truth of such unscrupulous crimes has come to light through the CAG report, said Shri Patnaik.
The CAG report has made it clear that the BJD government has been involved in land grabbing on a large scale. As of March 2024, about 50,231 acres of land had been allocated in 8 districts. Out of the 7,102 acres of land acquired from private and poor people in 2018, about 99 percent of the land is lying idle and unused. Similarly, 1615 acres of land was acquired for the Shamuka Beach project in Puri, but no development has taken place there for about 18 years. The then BJD government did not have any accurate database regarding how much land was given to whom, when and for what purpose. To recover the financial loss caused to the state due to land corruption, fines were not collected from the companies or individuals concerned, why and in whose interest? Shri Patnaik asked why the BJD government did not take any action against those involved in land corruption.
Many investors are turning away due to the inability to provide land for setting up industries in the state.
Till 2018, 5791 acres of land was provided for industrial parks and IT parks; out of the 3706 acres of land allocated to 2884 industrial units, 1142 acres of land has not been given to anyone yet. Out of the 8148 acres of land allocated in Bhubaneswar, Chandaka, Rasulgarh and Mancheswar, 67 acres of land is under occupation. 971 industries given for setting up on 994 acres of land have been closed. Out of the 252 acres of land allocated for other uses, 237 acres of land is being used for 454 residential houses and hostels. In other words, it is said that land has been allocated only on paper, but in reality it has not been given for occupation. So what was the then BJD government doing and why did it not bring all the land under its control? The BJP government, led by the popular Chief Minister of the state, Shri Mohan Charan Majhi, has now started the process of canceling the allocation of all land given illegally or at low prices and bringing it back under government control, which is highly commendable, said Shri Patnaik.
In Bhubaneswar and Puri, about 668 acres of land worth about Rs 600 crore is illegally occupied. Out of which, 180 acres of land is forest land. The then BJD government did not free that land from the encroachers in whose interest. The type of agricultural land has been illegally changed. Land has also been acquired by extortion in environmentally sensitive areas and special heritage areas. On the one hand, while showing favor to big land encroachers, it snatched land from the poor who were living in houses and made them homeless. The insensitive BJD government failed to provide land for a simple house. As soon as our government came to power, it gave land to the poor and homeless and started building concrete houses. The BJD, which had been arrogant for a long time in power, fell prey to its own arrogance at the end of its life, considering all the policies, rules and laws as valid, and continued to do whatever it wanted. He continued to sacrifice the interests of the people of Odisha. Shri Patnaik said that the people of Odisha will never forgive such actions of the BJD.
Similarly, the CAG report has also revealed the massive mining corruption in the BJD government’s revenue. After the successful Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi came to power, the audit of the DMF fund formed in 2015 for the development of mining-affected areas was not included in the CAG. The audit of this special fund was started by the CAG in 2023.
During these 8 years, the then BJD government was arbitrarily looting the DMF fund for its own and its party interests. Which is clearly revealed in this CAG report. Many illegal activities like construction of a hockey stadium for Rs 131 crore, construction of a wholesale market in Jajpur, construction of Mission Shakti Cafe, honey production, installation of light posts were done in the DMF fund. Shri Patnaik said that the fact that Rs 983 crore was spent in 976 non-mining villages in these 8 districts, while not a single rupee was spent in 584 mining-affected villages, exposed the widespread irregularities in the DMF allocation and the involvement of the then BJD government in it.State spokesperson Shri Rajendra Panda and senior leader Shri Gautam Roy were prominently present at this press conference.
