Jatni: Illegal acquisition of government lands at several revenue villages under Jatni tehsil has become a regular affair.
Officials of the Revenue department have turned mute spectators to the encroachment of government land by some influential persons, sources said.
According to the locals, hundreds of acres of government land at Kushamati-Chhanaghara revenue village and its nearby areas have been encroached upon by the land mafia and influential people in the last 15 years.
The land mafia also sold the illegally-acquired land to third parties on forged documents. Many government officials, big traders and influential people have constructed residential as well as commercial buildings illegally on the land, sources said.
It is learnt that some people have set up private schools on government land by bribing some officials of the Revenue department. This apart, the land mafia has encroached upon the landed properties of Puri Srimandir lying under Jatni tehsil.
According to the villagers, the land mafias are now trying their best to acquire at least 52 acre forest lands at Chhanaghara revenue village. Several trees have been felled at the forest lands in last few months.
“Government lands worth around Rs 100 crore have been illegally acquired by some influential people under Jatni tehsil in last few years. The tehsil officials did not take any action against the encroachers,” said a villager of Chhanaghara.
According to sources, the officials concerned had recently demolished boundary walls and other minor structures on some government plots under Jatni tehsil after receiving repeated complaints in this regard from the locals.
On the other hand, the officials, Saturday, put up several notice boards on Srimandir lands to prohibit any unauthorised entry into the plots.
“The tehsil officials are very much reluctant to protect government and Srimandir land from encroachers. After receiving repeated complaints, they have only put up some notice boards to prohibit unauthorised entry into the temple plots,” said villagers Srinivas Sahu, Abhaya Charan Routray and Birakishore Barik.