Bhubaneswar: The state government has asked Jajpur Collector Ranjan Das to demolish ‘Rangasala’ – the unauthorised guest house constructed on a government land at Baligari under Dharmasala tehsil of the district where the lady PEO Smitarani Biswal died under suspicious circumstances.
Following proposals to use the building as a public library, orphanage or old-age home instead of demolishing the structure, the Collector had sought necessary clarification from the Revenue department in this regard.
The Revenue & Disaster Management department said, “Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment (OPLE) Act—1972 and the OPLE Rules—1985 provide for eviction of unauthorised encroachments. All such encroachments except for those by homeless and landless persons shall end up with eviction only. There is no provision for alternative use.”
On the other hand, the rules specify that after confirmation of the order of forfeiture, the property will be sold in public auction and the sales proceeds are to be credited to the treasury, the department said.
Normally, no Collector seeks clarification on such an obvious issue of unauthorised encroachment. Hence, the encroachment should have been cleared without seeking any clarification, it said
As an unnatural death has happened in the said building, the government advised the Collector to get clearance from the court and investigation agencies concerned prior to demolition of the building.
A month ago, Smitarani’s body was recovered from ‘Rangasala’, which was illegally constructed by Rupesh Bhadra on government land.
