JEYPORE: About 500 acres of agricultural fields in Jeypore and adjacent areas have allegedly been converted into plots in the past five years. This disturbing trend that involves a yearly transaction of over Rs 100 crore has the denizens worried.More so, since most agriculture fields have allegedly been sold by unscrupulous elements without land conversion papers. They have just been registered in the local revenue office by submitting the prescribed fees.Sources said land mafia buy farmland on the outskirts of the town for a paltry ` 4 to 5 lakh an acre (100 cents). They scale up the price by plotting the land into 30x60 feet size and sell them for Rs 5 lakh a cent. In 2006, as many as 200 plots were sold in Jeypore and the number went up to 350 in 2007 and 475, the following year. The corresponding years of 2009, 2010 and 2011 saw 500, 550 and 600 plots being sold respectively. Sources said only 10 per cent of the total land sold in the last five years was officially converted for plotting purpose. Locals recently raised the issue before the Municipality and the MLA demanding a stop on all land dealings for the next six months till the Revenue Department reviews all the house sites.Meanwhile, the tehsildar office has shot off letters to land registration offices asking them to register house plots only after getting permission of conversion from the Revenue Department. “We are scrutinising the documents and have issued showcause notices to the buyers,” said Tehsildar M Nayak. He admitted that numerous cases of violation of revenue norms had been detected.
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