The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) here demanding a CBI probe under the direct supervision of a sitting High Court judge into land and house allotments scam.
Addressing party workers and supporters, CPI(M) Bhubaneswar Regional Committee secretary Prabhat Panigrahy said the scam occurred due to a lackadaisical attitude of the General Administration (GA), Housing and Urban Development and Revenue Departments. “Now, the State Government has engaged senior officials of the departments to investigate the case which is mere eyewash,” he said.
Party leaders Suresh Panigrahy, Sarat Das and Sal Marandi and DYFI State president Jatin Mohanty demanded stringent action against the persons who got more than two plots from the Government violating the law. The leaders urged the Government to provide at least 435 square feet of plot to each homeless family residing in the city after cancelling the house and land allotments to the corrupt persons.
“It is not a small issue. There are several influential persons like Kalpataru Das from the ruling party involved in the scam. So, the CBI can probe neutrally into the scam,” said the party leaders and added that a bigger rally would be organised by the party very soon protesting the scam.