Bhubaneswar: Scientists of Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) carried out a peaceful protest in the campus against the enforcement squad of the BDA. The institute is in a tussle with the state government over the usage of some of its land for the construction of a convention centre.
Over 200 research scholars and members of the administration protested against the BDA squad, according to a protestor.
The institute was allocated 200 acres of land in 1964. But the land was not registered under its name initially. “Normally in such cases, the government hands over the land first and then registers it. Between 1981- 85 the government had also taken 23 acres out of the 200 acres to build the Pathani Samanta Planetarium and the Institute of Physics. The registration process for IMMT started in 1985 but only 147 acres were registered. So the status has always remained unclear about the remaining approximately 30 acres of land out of 177 acres that belonged to IMMT. In those 30 acres we have constructed quarters, electric sub stations and other buildings within the campus,” said Assistant Director, Santosh Kumar Mishra.
Mishra says the institution’s complaint is that the government wants to build a convention centre without proper settlement. “In 2017, we heard from the government that it wants additional 19 acres for the construction of a convention centre, which we agreed to. But our condition was that the 19 acres, along with the remaining 12 acres (out of the 30 acres), should be clearly demarcated as our own. So we won’t have further problem in the future. We still haven’t gotten any legal clearance but the BDA had come today to start the work on the convention centre’s boundary, which we protested. Our only demand is not to take any coercive action before clearing the land status,” says Mishra.
A research scholar, Bibhu Ranjan Khatua says that the demolition will affect the research work of the scientists and the future development of the institution. “The demolition of the quarters will pose a problem for the scientists. Many of them have set up their research equipments and the displacement will hinder their work. The institute won’t be able to do expand or carry out any further development work in the future either, under such circumstances” says Khatua.
