Bhubaneswar, June 2: The state government Friday reclaimed an encroached 1.3-acre plot of land after an 11-hour long eviction operation near AG Square here.
The land, along with an additional 1 acre there, will host the Bhubaneswar Museum of Urban History, claimed to be the first-of-its-kind in the country.
The Central Enforcement Monitoring Committee (CEMC), which conducted the eviction, from 6 am to 5 pm, employed four Poclain machines, eight excavators, eight tippers and more than 200 personnel drawn from police and fire services. A trench was also dug around the reclaimed land to construct a boundary wall.
It was after more than 30 years that the state took possession of the land, which was illegally occupied by one Raghu Ray who had set up the Indira English Medium School there, since 1988.
Sources said that Ray had forged General Administration Department (GAD) land papers and the school was also running with affiliation of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
Later, however, CBSE withdrew its affiliation after the forgery came to light and was also substantiated in the court. The school has remained closed since 2007, though Ray continued with the encroachment.
The GAD had filed an FIR against Ray for forging the papers. Later, an Odisha Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants, Act, 1972) OPPE case was initiated by the department.
However, Ray challenged the notice of the OPPE case and obtained a status quo order in 2006. GAD then filed a miscellaneous case to vacate the status quo order.
May 5 this year, the court passed orders on the status quo order before ordering the school to vacate the land by another order May 18, failing which the joint eviction squad of GAD, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) would evict the encroacher from the site Friday.
Senior officials of GAD, BDA, BMC and BSCL were present at the site during the eviction.