Andhra-based Dr Rammohan Rao, who has been defrauding tribals in Rayagada district for years, was given responsibility of Koraput district by the Horticulture Department for promotion of palm oil cultivation and extraction of palm oil by establishing an oil mill in Koraput by extending huge subsidy in crores of rupees.
Not only Rao, the State Government is doing undue favour to the Andhra businessmen, who have been illegally cultivating palm trees for years on the land of innocent tribals. Dr Rao’s is all set to sign an MoU with the State Horticulture Department for allotting him Koraput District without any tender or Expression of Interest (EoI). The department was in a hurry to sign the contract on May 30, even after the Tehsildar of Bandhugaon filed an FIR against Rao for the illegal farming and land grab.
After the decision by the Government of signing the MoU with Rao, there is now a fear that the peaceful environment is likely to be disturbed by yet another land movement in the region.
Rao is the director of Karshak Maharshi Oil Pvt Ltd. He is a resident of newly formed Parvathipuram district of Andhra Pradesh bordering Rayagada and Koraput districts. Though he is a doctor by profession, he has set his greedy eyes on the tribal land. He has kept the tribal and poor people’s land under his control for the last 17 to 25 years in the guise of lease and is expanding his dominance under the name of palm oil cultivation.
Thousands of acres of tribal and non-tribal land are under his control in Gunupur and Rayagada. There is no statutory agreement either done by the registration authority or by the Revenue Department. Rao has been defrauding the tribals of Rayagada district for years by paying Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000 per acre per year. He has not spared the Government land of 30 to 40 acres in the neighbouring Koraput district. That's why the Tehsildar of Bandhugaon erected red flags on the land, issued Section 144 there and filed a case in the name of Rao.
Notably, Rao had set up a palm oil mill in the border village of Atada and took a loan of Rs 11.50 crore from a bank and got a subsidy of around Rs 5 crore from the State Government. A few years later, he pretended the industry to be sick by foul play, closed the mill permanently and took all the equipment to AP and sold the mill for Rs 20 crore. While major raw materials namely Fresh Fruits Bunch (FBB) are produced in Rayagada and Koraput, they are taken to AP and Rao makes huge profit leaving a pittance for the local farmers of Odisha. Unfortunately, the administration here is a mere spectator and is hand in glove with Rao.
Rao’s company has been registered with the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is less than a year and two months’ old. According to the rules, the company that wins the bid preferably should have experience in palm oil cultivation, agriculture and horticulture in Odisha, in having a turnover of Rs 150 crore in the last financial year and a palm oil factory. But even though the company does not meet any of these criteria, the State Government is making an agreement with it, which raises serious doubts. Bijaya Mishra, a leading farmer of the district and an awardee of Agriculture Department, demanded that the company’s contract be cancelled and a qualified company be given the responsibility with immediate effect.