Jeypore: At a time when a series of development projects has failed to make headway in this town of Koraput district due to non-availability of suitable lands, nearly 40 acres of government land is learnt to be under the clutches of land grabbers.
At present 132 persons have encroached upon 39.918 acres of land, the minister recently answered in the state Assembly responding to a question of local MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati.
Measures are being taken to free the land, official sources said.
According to reports, an IT Park in the town has stuck in the midway as the state government has allotted only three acres instead of five acres for the project. Similarly, the Chief Minister had announced to have a district headquarters hospital in Jeypore. But due to shortage of land, the hospital would be accommodated on the premises of the mother and child health (MCH) hospital which has been set up on 24 acres. This would lead to serious space crunch in the future, it is feared.
The fate of a proposed LPG bottling plant project by the Union oil and natural gas ministry hangs in balance due to land scarcity.
Meanwhile, the state government shifted the location of a technical degree college to Nabarangpur as government land for the institute was not available, a report said.
While locals demanded immediate eviction of the government land in the larger interest of the town, attempts are being made to disturb and delay the eviction process, it was learnt.
