Odisha govt cancels land allotment in favour of minister's son

Criticised for alleged arbitrary allotment of valuable land in the state capital, the Odisha government has cancelled the lease of a land, which was given to the son of a senior BJD minister.
"The state government has cancelled the lease in November 2012 and forfeited the premium and interest," the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its latest report on general and social sector said.
Though the CAG report did not mention name of the minister and his son in its report, records of the general administration department showed that the land was leased out to Biplab Patro, son of revenue minister S N Patro.

The CAG, however, said the land near the DAV School at Unit-8 was allotted in gross violation of the government's well-stated land use policy.
The minister, however, said, "I have nothing to say at this moment."
The CAG in its report said that upon application for allotment of 2 acre of land in unit-8 area, Hotel Ambassador International was allotted 1.010 acre of land as per recommendation of the government by changing land use zone from "residential" to "commercial".
"The entire process of allotment was completed within 56 days and the applicant was allowed to pay premium at institutional rate (Rs 50 lakh per acre) against applicable commercial rate (Rs 75 lakh per acre), that too in eight instalments as per its request," the CAG pointed out in its report.