Bhubaneswar: The Orissa high court has ordered the state government to hold back the salary of Angul district collectors and two others till 188 villagers get compensation for the land they lost in an irrigation project more than six decades ago.
A two-judge bench of the Orissa high court comprising justices BR Sarangi and BP Satapathy ordered that the salaries of the district officials be stopped till the 188 villagers get compensation for their land that was submerged after the Kukurpeta Minor Irrigation Project was constructed.
“Since the compensation amount has not been paid to the petitioners till date, even though the land was acquired in the year 1961 and in the meantime more than 60 years have passed, this Court directs that the salary of district collector, land acquisition officer and executive officer of Angul Zilla Parishad would not be released till payment of compensation to the petitioners is done,” the high court said.
The affected villagers in five villages of Angul district have been running from pillar to post for the last 51 years trying to seek compensation for 62 acres of land which was submerged due to the minor irrigation project. Though the land was submerged, it continued to be recorded in the name of the villagers and had to pay land revenue all these years since the government did not issue a notification acquiring the parcel of land.
