Sambalpur: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has declared 18 houses constructed on the land acquired for the construction of a necklace road in Sambalpur as illegal and void, a report said Wednesday. Moreover, questions have been raised on the survey of the special land acquisition department.
Notably, the NHAI has planned for the construction of a four-lane outer necklace road or ring road at an expense of Rs 1,000 crore in Sambalpur town to ease the town’s burgeoning traffic. The ring road will start from Goshala, Katapali on NH-53 and run via Maneswar, Jayantpur, and Kabrapali via Gunderpur on the state highway connecting Sonepur with the Rourkela-bound Biju Expressway at Sasan and the two national highways connecting Cuttack and Kolkata. The NHAI also issued notice to the concerned land owners for acquisition of their land under Section-3(A) of the Land Acquisition Act.
However, many people eyeing fat compensation constructed houses even after notices were issued to them for acquisition of their land. A report highlighting the manipulation done by people to grab hefty government compensation was published by Orissa POST. The fraud came to the fore after NHAI authorities wrote a letter-629, dated June 30, 2023 to the Sambalpur district administration.
In its letter, the NHAI has declared 18 houses constructed on the land earmarked for acquisition as illegal and void. The letter mentions the names of the beneficiaries, the valuation of their houses, and that the houses have been constructed after the date of issue of notice. As per norms, the status of land cannot be changed in the concerned area after notification for land acquisition is issued. The notice debars the land owners from the construction of any new structure or further construction on their land identified for acquisition. In case of any urgency, the concerned land owner has to obtain the permission of the district Collector before carrying out any new construction. However, the rules have been completely violated here. This letter has exposed a major fraud involving crores of rupees.
Locals questioned how the valuation of newly constructed houses was done despite NHAI having proof of the wrongdoing. They claimed that the involvement of bigwigs and government officials would stand exposed if the irregularities were probed by a special team. The houses that NHAI has cancelled for compensation due to illegal construction have been valued at Rs 1.68 crore for Bhagaban Pradhan, Rs 1.32 crore for Jaga Oram at Khuliapali, Rs 92 lakh for Balaji Builders at Halipali, Rs 35 lakh of Prakash Swain, Rs 45 lakh of Subala Bhoi, Rs 1.9 crore of Binod Pradhan, Rs 45 lakh of Panchanan Nath at Dedar, Nuapalli village. Similarly, Rs 29 lakh of Anand Oram, Rs 1.59 crore of Biranchi Meher at Sudunga village, Rs 26 lakh of Purusottam Sahu, Rs 49 lakh of Ajit Panigrahi, Rs 7 lakh of Sangita Agarwal, Rs 12 lakh of Girija Agarwal, Rs 13 lakh of Pushpa Agarwal, Rs 65 lakh of Shila Narmada, Rs 59 lakh of Gangadhar Sethi, Rs 27 lakh of Ranjit Singh Chawla and Rs 78 lakh of Bipin Bihari Seth at Gunderpur.
The NHAI authorities have termed the construction of these houses on land already earmarked for the ring road project and after the issuance of notice as illegal and void. These houses were constructed after June 15, 2022, on plots that had no houses at that time. When contacted, NHAI project director S Nageshwar Rao said the district administration has been issued a letter informing them about the fraud. Further action will be taken as per norms, he said. Sources said that the NHAI has floated a tender for the construction of the ring road while the acquisition of land for the project is also underway.