Villagers demand pattas, stage protest

Kendrapada: People living in the seaside villages of Mahakalapada block started an indefinite dharna in front of the Mahakalapada tehsil office on Friday, demanding ownership rights of land that has been in their possession since long at a proposed steel plant site. The villagers under the aegis of Ramachandi Krusak Kalyan Samiti submitted a seven-point charter of demands to the tehsildar.
“The government granted us land pattas in 1976 and we had been paying tax. But the district administration recently cancelled all land pattas in the names of villagers and refused to receive any tax from us with an ulterior motive to hand over our land in Ramanagar, Kharinashi and Batighar gram panchayats to ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel for the steel plant,” said Tarunkanti Kanjilal, the coordinator of Ramachandi Krusak Kalyan Samiti.
“Most of the villages under Ramanagar, Kharinashi and Batighar gram panchayats are covered with mangrove forest, and under the Forest Right Act, no forest land can be given to anyone until all the rights of people in the area are recognised and their consent is given for the project. This is the requirement of the law, acknowledged further by an environment ministry order of August 3, 2009,” said Krushnpada Mandal of Batighar GP.
Niranjan Behera, sub-collector of Kendrapada, said, “The administration granted pattas to many persons under the Forest Right Act and rejected the claims of many who were not eligible to get pattas.”