CAG flags 12,393 acres of Odisha industrial land lying unutilised, encroachments unchecked
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found that more than 12,000 acres of land allotted to industries and other organisations in Odisha between 1981 and 2021 were never put to the use for which they were sanctioned. Portions of allotted land were diverted to other purposes, and government and forest land remained under unauthorised occupation, the auditor said in a report tabled in the Odisha Legislative Assembly on Monday.
The Odisha Government Land Settlement (OGLS) Act, 1983, and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013, require leased or acquired land to be utilised within three years and five years respectively. However, the audit found that lease deeds executed between the collectors and the allottees did not specify any period within which the land had to be utilised.
According to the report, 12,393.651 acres of land allotted during 1981-2021 for the establishment of industries and allied activities had not been used for the intended purposes. A further 252.692 acres of allotted land were used for purposes other than those for which they were sanctioned.
The audit also examined land acquired from private owners. It found that 7,102.062 acres of private land were acquired by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department between 1983 and 2018 for setting up industries. Of this, 6,163.727 acres were allotted to the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) and 938.335 acres to two other entities. As of October 2024, 7,035.471 acres — about 99 per cent of the acquired land — had not been used for the intended purposes, despite the stipulated period having lapsed. The unutilised land included 1,958.145 acres that IDCO had not allotted to anyone as of October 2024.
The CAG further found that government agencies had taken inadequate action to prevent and remove encroachments on government land. A random analysis of records in the sampled tehsils showed that 668.893 acres of government land, valued at ₹597.87 crore, remained under unauthorised occupation. Of this, 179.802 acres were forestland occupied by various industrial organisations and educational institutions.
The report highlighted the unauthorised use of 10 acres of forestland in Bhubaneswar by the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). It said that although a case had been instituted over the encroachment, the institution constructed buildings for an academic block, a vocational block and a hostel, as well as roads, on the forestland. The audit stated that KISS continued to violate the Forest Rights Act and occupied the land "in connivance with the departmental staff and officers".
The Centre had instructed the Collector, Khordha, to initiate action against erring officials of the Revenue Department responsible for the violation, the report said. Instead of acting against the officials, the Collector intimated that the Bhubaneswar tehsildar had taken action. The CAG noted that the Collector's response did not specifically state whether the encroachments by KISS had been removed, and that the audit found no eviction had been carried out. The forestland remained under the institution's occupation.
The findings matter because land is a finite public resource in a State where industrial allocation, forest cover, agriculture and rural livelihoods compete for the same acreage. When allotted land stays idle for years, the intended industrial investment does not materialise, and the land is unavailable for other public uses. In the case of forestland, occupation without clearance raises questions under environmental and forest laws. The report is an audit observation placed before the Assembly; it sets out the discrepancies found in official records and the responses received from the departments concerned.
