Kendrapara: Six hotel owners and 50 families of Bankuala village in this coastal Kendrapara have been served with an eviction notice for encroaching forest land inside the Bhitarkanika National Park.
Rajnagar Tahsildar Ajay Kumar Mohanty has served encroachment notices under section 9 of Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, 1972 to six hotel owners,who have set up hotels by encroaching forest land.
Eviction notices were also served to 50 people of Bankuala and Durgaprasad villages for encroaching on the forest and revenue land.
The encroachers were asked to appear before the Tahasildar of Rajnagar on July 20 and 23 to submit their stand and objections before the Tahsildar.
Ramachandra Mallick of Bankuala village stated, “The marauding sea has devoured their homestead land in the 1990s, forcing them to settle in Bankuala. Now, notice has been served to leave the forest land.
Similarly, another fellow villager, Basanta Mandal said, the erstwhile king of Rajkanika had granted land Pattas to their grandfathers in the 1930s.
The officials, without verifying records, have labelled several fellow villagers as encroachers and issued eviction notices, he alleged.
According to the Tahsildar, allegations were earlier made before the District collector and DFO of Rajnagar Mangrove (forest) and wildlife division that several hotels have come in near Bhitarkanika National Park main gate by the hotel owners by encroaching government and forest land.
On July 9 last, a joint inquiry was conducted by the Revenue and Forest Department with the help of local police.
The local administration organized a land survey in the presence of Tahsildar of Rajnagar, Ajay Kumar Mohanty, the Tahsildar of Pattamundai, Panchanan Nayak, ACF, Manas Kumar Das, SDPO of Pattamundai, Khyamasagar Panda, Rajnagar IIC , Ajay Kumar Jena and police force.
During the land survey it was revealed that Hotel Satya Priya, Hotel Red Crab, Hotel Bhitarkanika, and Kanika Sundari Resort were set up by the owners after encroaching on forest land.
UNI
