The Cuttack district administration on Monday took possession of the controversial patch of land near the Barabati Stadium here that was under the possession of the Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) for over two decades. The administration in March this year had recorded the land measuring 2.703 acres as Government property.
“We are planning to remove the illegal constructions that have come up on this controversial land within seven days. A sprawling marriage mandap in the name and style of Barabati Palace and 23 shops were constructed illegally on this land by the OOA,” said a district official.
It may be mentioned that the Supreme Court, upholding an order of the Odisha High Court, had set up a committee headed by the Cuttack district Collector asking it to take over the management of the marriage mandap and the shops in January this year.
The State Government had leased about 20 acres of its land to the OOA in 1949 for construction of the Barabati Stadium. Subsequently, the sporting body took adverse possession of the adjacent Government land. But when Asirbad Behera became the secretary of the OOA in 1985, he subleased the encroached land to an estate developer firm headed by his son to run the businesses on it.