Dhanmati Majhi, a tribal widow of Rohenpadar village under Khariar tehsil in Nuapada district, has got back her 2.16 acres of land, which was illegally transferred and mutated by some land grabbers of the district.
The Khariar Tehsildar issued the document of ROR to Dhanmati in the presence of his brother Premananda Majhi of Dharamsagar village, who worked tirelessly for last one year to force the revenue authority cancel the registration and mutation.
Dhanmati got the hint of the illegal transaction, when a notice was served to her by the Tehsildar, Khariar for a mutation case. "I became astonished when I got the mutation notice, because neither I nor my late husband had sold any land; thus I asked my brother to inquire about the matter," revealed Dhanmati.
Parmanand after obtaining information from the registering authority could know that 2.16 acres of land belonging to Daitari Majhi, husband of Dhanmati, has been transferred to one Jharbandh Majhi of Sunabeda village under Khariar Tehsil. When he started inquiring the whereabouts of Jharbandh Majhi through RTI, he came to know that, no one in this name existed in Sunabeda.
"We lodged a complaint with the registration authority to stop the mutation, but they didn't," revealed Parmanand.
The matter of illegal transfer of land drew the attention of media when Paramanand and Dhanmati sat in demonstration demanding cancellation of the land transaction and stringent action against the people who twisted the law to benefit the land grabbers. A case was lodged by Dhanmati with Khariar police and as a consequence of investigation by police, it became clear that it was a fake transaction legalised by the witnesses befooling the registration authority by producing fake identification documents. The main witness in the case named Shyam Agrawal of Khariar was arrested and forwarded to judicial custody under various sections of the IPC.
According to the Khariar police, the second witness named Kaibalya Hans of Mudkani village under Turekela police station is still at large. Paramanand has revealed that the two witnesses in connivance with some corrupt officials have given effect to the illegal transaction.
Dhanmati has revealed her happiness after getting the land patta. "My worries are finally over, but I am still unable to know why the mutation was done even after I lodged a complaint," she said.