Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly Tuesday adjourned several times as Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Narasingha Mishra staged dharna in the well of the House, demanding return of land acquired for Vedanta Group’s proposed university in Puri district to farmers.
Mishra raised the issue during Zero Hour and demanded that Speaker Pramila Mallik should ask the state government to return the land, acquired for the project, to farmers. He also claimed that the land was handed over to the group “fraudulently” and demanded a Vigilance inquiry against officials involved in the process.
As the Speaker said she would examine the matter, Mishra started demonstrating in the well of the House.
Mishra informed the House that the Supreme Court, in April 2023, termed the acquisition of land for the proposed project as illegal. The Orissa High Court, in 2010, quashed the process of land acquisition for the proposed university and directed the authorities to return the land to their owners, he added.
The Congress Legislature Party leader read out the judgments of Lok Pal, Orissa High Court and Supreme Court in the matter and claimed that the Odisha government has been reluctant to return the land to farmers, despite court orders.
Mishra also claimed that while “Vedanta wanted only 3000 acres of land for its world-class university project near Konark in Odisha, the state government handed over 10,000 acres of land to the company”.
This 10,000-acre land in Puri district belonged to about 6,000 farmers and Lord Jagannath, he pointed out.
“Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his cabinet ministers were involved in this multi-crore scam,” he alleged.
PTI