Inquiry into forest land encroachment

BHUBANESWAR: Land scams continue to haunt the ruling BJD forcing the state government to order yet another probe into alleged illegalities committed by certain party leaders in encroachment of forest land at Ghangapatana village on the outskirts of the city.
"I have asked for a joint verification of the land by revenue and forest officers as there is confusion over whether it is revenue or forest land," revenue minister Bijayshree Routray told the media here on Friday.
Routray's probe order came a day after forest and environment minister Bikram Arukh asked divisional forest officer (DFO), wildlife, Chandaka, to inquire into allegations of misuse and encroachment of forest land, including hills at Ghangapatana in Paikarapur gram panchayat under Chandaka tahasil in Khurda district.
The developments have come as a major embarrassment for the Naveen Patnaik government as it involves BJD's Dharmashala MLA Pranab Balabantray, son of party heavyweight and Rajya Sabha member Kalpataru Das. Pranab had earlier landed in the dock after he was found to have violated the state government's discretionary quota policy by taking multiple properties in Bhubaneswar.
In July, he "surrendered" two flats which he had taken from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority and the Odisha State Housing Board.
Official sources said a part of the property in question at Ghangapatna, going by government records, was registered in Pranab's favour. The first-time lawmaker, however, denied any wrongdoing. "I do not own the land. It was bought by Gokarneswar Trust in 2009 for an educational institute, but as the plan did not materialize it was sold off in 2012. The record might not have been updated. The land is not under forest category," said Dharmashala MLA Pranab Balabantray.
More importantly, it is the mystery surrounding the 3-km long road on forest land from Ghangapatna to Daspur that has left the government searching for answers. The road, about 30-metre wide, was being constructed up to the 5.5 acre patch belonging to Pranab and the Gokarneswar Trust, of which he is a trustee. "I have no idea about the road," said Pranab . The forest, revenue and panchayati raj departments are also mum about who was building the road.
Official sources said inquiries by Khurda district officers have found that the panchayati raj department had in 2009-10 sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for the road, but work was not taken up for reasons best known to the administration. Kalpataru was then the panchayati raj minister. Earlier this week, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra alleged that two BJD leaders had encroached upon over 100 acre of forest land at Ghangapatna.