BJP demands CBI probe into Odisha land scam

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Aug 1: Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday demanded that the land scam relating to allotment of plots and houses to Ministers, legislators and senior government officials by different government agencies in Odisha should be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.The CBI should probe into the large scale irregularities that had been committed by allotment of plots and houses under the discretionary quota since 2002 when the Orissa High Court had directed the State Government to formulate a uniform policy with regard to such allotments, senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra.Addressing a press conference at the party’s State headquarters here, Mohapatra demanded that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should clarify before the public as to why his government took no action on the High Court order from 2002 to 2010 when finally a Committee under his chairmanship was formed on the basis of the High Court order.Even after the Committee was formed, the State Government did not formulate any policy with regard to allotment of plots and houses, Mohapatra pointed out.The Government also did not do anything even after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India wrote letters to it twice in 2013 pointing out the illegality in the allotments made in favour of the then Minister Kalpataru Das and his family members.About surrender of additional houses, Mohapatra said that surrendering a house or a plot does not exonerate anyone from the crime and criminal proceedings should be taken against the families that had taken more than one house or plot from the Government.Thanking the CAG for placing a report pointing out such facts, Mohapatra said that his party was consulting lawyers to take legal measures on the issue on the basis of the CAG report on the allotment of more than one plot OT house in favour of Ministers, legislators and senior Bureau crats.The BJP will also translate and print in Odia one lakh copies of the findings of the CAG on the land and distribute the same among the people of the State to let the public know how the land mafia had violated all laws with regard to allotments made by IDCO, BDA and Housing Board.