Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) of Central Division BK Mohapatra on Wednesday issued a circular asking all the 10 district Collectors under his jurisdiction to probe into the land grabbing allegations by different self-professing godmen in their districts.
The Collectors have been asked to survey the encroachments of Government and endowment lands by the godmen for their ashrams and religious retreats and report the details about it within 15 days. The RDC has also warned the Collectors not to show any leniency in this regard lest it would be dealt with severity, said a release issued by the RDC office here.
Following widespread media reports that a number of so-called godmen and godwomen in the alibi of spreading spiritual and religious discourses have set up swanky retreats by encroaching Government land and are involved in immoral practices there, the Government on Tuesday had instructed the RDCs to act swiftly against such nefarious activities.
Mohapatra in his circular to the Collectors of Cuttack, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Baleswar, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Khordha and Nayagarh districts has asked them to prepare lists of the land grabbers and amount of land, including the recorded characteristics of the land if changed illegally without following the due revenue laws.