KENDRAPARA : The threat of eviction looms large over 50 families and six hotel owners in Bankuala and Durgaprasad villages under Rajnagar tehsil within Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district. The Revenue department issued eviction notices on Friday to the residents and business owners for encroaching upon government and forest land.
Tehsildar of Rajanagar Ajay Kumar Mohanty stated the notices were issued under section 9 of Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, 1972. “We recently conducted a land survey in both villages to identify and evict all encroachers. We will soon launch a massive eviction operation and will not spare anyone illegally occupying land in Bhitarkanika National Park,” he said. Increasing congestion on the main road to Bhitarkanika has become a major concern, with the illegal hotels being a significant contributing factor. Legal action will be taken against those who refuse to vacate the lands, he further stated.
Director of Action for Protection of Wild Animals (APOWA), Bijay Kabi said, the main road near the entrance looks more like a narrow lane due to the encroachment by six illegal hotels. Liquor flows freely in these establishments, he alleged, adding, “A nexus between influential persons and senior forest and revenue officials, led to the construction of these hotels over the past five years.”
He urged the state government to take stern action against the officials who allowed these illegal constructions.
Assistant conservator of forests (ACF) of the park Manas Das mentioned the Forest department plans to regenerate mangrove forests on the reclaimed land post-eviction.
The encroachers include both locals and those displaced by floods and sea erosion.
However, Ramachandra Mallick of Bankuala village expressed his concern, saying, “The sea swallowed our house and land in the 1990s, forcing us to settle in Bankuala. Now, we face displacement again.”
Basanta Mandal of the same village said the erstwhile king of Rajkanika had granted land Pattas to their grandfathers in the 1930s. “The officials, without verifying records, have labelled us as encroachers and issued eviction notices,” he alleged Meanwhile, protests have erupted as villagers expressed deep concern over the forcible eviction of people who have lived in the park for generations.
