The Residents of Basantpur area have strongly opposed land acquisition for a Police Training Institute (129 acres) and an Idco project (100 acres) in their locality.
As the officials including Tehsildar Iswar Patil , additional Tehsildar Manas Ranjan Swain and Revenue Officer Jogesh Gadtia reached the spot, the villagers of Basantpur and Papchera gheraoed them opposing the land acquisition process.
The villagers rejected their request to go to the revenue office for discussion. Villagers led by Suresh Chanda, Tikeswar Pradhan, Rukmani Rout, Yudhirstir Mirdha, Bharat Mirdha, Namita Chanda and Gita Rana declined to hand over land at any cost.
They alleged that during the Hirakud dam construction period, the State Government did not provide substitute land and proper compensation to the victims. They pleaded that they had been cultivating in the land for generations and managing their livelihood.
“We welcome the establishment of various institutes in the area but the administration should construct buildings on Government land and not on our land,” Tikeswar Pradhan said.
The district administration after completion of the second Mahanadi bridge has allotted vacant land for construction of a campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), a second campus of Gaangadhar Meher University, a Sainik School, a Kendriya Vidyalaya and a CRPF battalion on the other side of the river. The area has been emerging as an education hub in western Odisha.
