Tension prevails at Ghangapatna on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar following the arrest of 13 poor tribals and dalits by the Crime Branch police on the charge of sale of leased land on Thursday.
The villagers have questioned the Crime Branch investigation, in the process of which these leaseholders have been arrested instead of taking similar action against the land mafia and brokers, who were the real culprits in the illegal sale of the leased forestlands.
The villagers point out that these 13 tribal and dalit families had been cultivating millet and vegetables in the lands, which were leased out to them by the State Government. But as their crops were repeatedly damaged by wild elephants, the villagers had to give up cultivation as they suffered losses year after year and were unable to repay the loans.
later, the local tehsildar had cancelled the lease of some of the lands leased out to the villagers without notice. Taking opportunity of the situation, the land mafia and brokers managed to lure the poor leaseholders to sell their land, they said.
The villagers also claim that there was no restriction on sale and purchase of the leased-out lands by the concerned registrar and that it was the land brokers who had taken the responsibility of tampering with the original land records.
“How the illiterate leaseholders, who had no knowledge about the sale and purchase of the lands, were wrong in receiving money after signing on the sale deedsIJ” they asked.
Meanwhile, four of the arrested leaseholders, Yudhistir Nayak, Kasinath Nayak, Bilas Dehuri and Ratnakar Parida, who were released on bail later in the day, told the media that the Crime Branch police had asked them to name the persons who had purchased the lands from them. “We told them that we do not know the purchasers.
“We received the money from the brokers after signing on the documents,” they said. They were at a loss to make sense of why they were arrested and released shortly later.The villagers also alleged that some influential persons, who had taken possession of these lands through the brokers, have been given protection by the Government.Sources said the irate villagers have decided to stage a massive agitation for release of the other arrested leaseholders