374 acres transferred to PHD

PURI: The Puri municipality on Thursday transferred about 374 acres of land in Balukhand Mouza, identified as underground sweet water reserved area, in favour of the Puri Public Health Department PHD).The Orissa High Court while disposing of a PIL on November 7, 2007 had directed the civic body to hand over the land to PHD. The HC asked Puri PHD executive engineer to remove all constructions and structures from the sweet water zone and preserve it.Umaballav Rath, former Puri MLA, had raised the issue in the HC that most of the land of the reserved underground sweet water area located in the Balukhand mouza was illegally transferred to individuals and institutions and had sought court’s intervention.The then Chief Justice A K Ganguly and Justice BN Mahapatra after hearing the plea directed the municipality to hand over possession of the entire sweet water area to Puri PHD in three weeks.The civic body had filed a review petition in the HC but the court refused stay on the earlier order.Seven months lapsed but the municipality did precious little to execute the HC order. Things changed after some senior citizens apprised the Chief Minister while reviewing the Rath Yatra preparations in June. Expressing concern over the delay, the Chief Minister asked the Secretary of Urban Development Department to execute the HC order at the earliest.Of the total 448 acres of the sweet water zone, several housing projects, government and private institutions had came up over 74 acres, encroaching upon the water works prohibited area.Executive Officer of the municipality M D Barik said this is the first phase of land transfer which was free of encroachments and the remaining land would be transferred to PHD soon.The Orissa High Court while disposing of a PIL on November 7, 2007 had directed the civic body to hand over the land to PHD.
Saturday July 19 2008 13:48 IST
Express News Service
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