Balasore: The ambitious land bank project of the state government to push industrialisation in Remuna block of Balasore district has been lying idle while land owners have been facing problem in sale and purchase of land due to restrictions, a report said.
Besides, land acquisition for industrial projects has been delayed for the last six years.
According to reports, the state government had issued a letter to then Balasore collector in 2011 to acquire 1099 acres of land in Remuna for Idco Land Bank so as to promote industrialisation.
As per the Land Acquisition Act-1894, the revenue department had issued notices in December, 2011, to land owners of nine villages in Kharidmukara, Nuapadhi and Naraharipur panchayats for land acquisition. The land owners agreed to spare their land for the land bank. Thereafter, land sale and purchase was stopped.
About 800 families were hopeful of benefiting from industrialisation after land acquisition. But the land acquisition got delayed. People in Somnathpur and Balgopalpur, which were close to industrial area, did not cultivate their land and hoped for early compensation for their land.
They hoped to start businesses after getting their compensation amount for their land, but the land acquisition process has been delayed over the last six years.
People have even failed to sell their land to meet expenses like medical treatment and marriages.
In March, an ailing farmer, Parsuram Mishra of Gobindapur could not sell his land to meet his medical expenses and died helplessly.
Farmers of the region have been demanding revocation of restrictions on land sale and purchase, but nothing is being done to address their concerns, they lamented.
Till date, the government has not fixed the land rate as per the new Land Acquisition Act-2014 and hasn’t acquired the land.
After repeated pleas by the farmers, then collector Sanatan Mallick had ordered the officials concerned to hold a meeting to sort out the issue in 2015.
ADM Manmath Pani, Idco CGM Sushant Mohanty, land acquisition officer Dipika Swain and representatives of farmers had held discussions at the collectorate. A decision was taken to evaluate the land and pay compensation to the farmers at a time. The land acquisition officer had sent a copy of the estimated land valuation to Idco.
Idco had also sanctioned funds and intimated the issue to the revenue department, but the latter has been sitting pretty over the issue, it was alleged.
Farmers alleged though they had been taking up the issue with the collector, the revenue secretary, Balasore MP and local MLA, no step is being taken to break the stalemate.
Ranjan Kumar Nayak, a farmer, said since 2011 the government has restricted sale and purchase of land. Poor farmers have to suffer when they have to meet exigencies, he added.
“The government should either acquire our land immediately or lift restriction on land sale and purchase,” Nayak added.
Sub-collector Bhabataran Sahu assured that the administration would take steps soon to sort out the issue. The file pertaining to land acquisition has been at the Accountant General’s office, he added. PNN