Bhubaneswar: After being served a legal notice for alleging encroachment of government land by an entrepreneur in Deras area on the outskirts of Odisha capital, senior BJP leader and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi hit back on Sunday.
Taking to social media, the firebrand BJP leader said a legal notice has been served asking her to tender public apology for pointing out obstruction of canal water from Deras Minor Irrigation Project due to land encroachment.
Terming the move as audacious, she said it is interesting that the person who takes away water from poor farmers’ land due to insatiable greed for land is seeking apology.
Aparajita said after several written requests from a large number of farmers and others, she made inquiries and visits over the past few days and presented two points with facts and logic.
It was then stated that 300 acres of farm land is not irrigated by the Deras project for the last two years due to encroachment and obstruction of canal by the entrepreneur, she claimed.
An area of 150 acres including MIP canal, government land, forest land, temple land, and private land of various people to be freed, the BJP leader said, adding that the land was encroached by terrorising the locals using the name of an influential officer.
Stating that the woman entrepreneur through a legal notice has asked her to issue a public apology, Aparajita said people of Odisha are surprised and they wonder as to who should apologise.
A legal notice is served upon me by Kruthika Prabhakaran-asking me to beg for public apology.
WHAT AUDACITY!
Reason of this AUDACITY- @CMO_Odisha?
She, who takes away water from Poor Farmers’ lands,due to her insatiable Greed for Land, is asking me for apology.
Interesting! pic.twitter.com/fy8aK5AXLS— Aparajita Sarangi, Member of Parliament (@AprajitaSarangi) September 10, 2023
The Parliamentarian sought to know whether the entrepreneur who stopped the poor farmers from irrigating 300 acres of land for two years should apologise or the one who raised the issue.
The Lok Sabha member wanted to know as to who needs to apologise for encroachment of land and obstruction of canal from Deras MIP.
It may be recalled that after verifying with officials and engineers, the BJP MP had written to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and sought his intervention for removal of encroachment at Deras dam project to enable the farmers to get irrigation water.
Following the issue raised by Aparajita, the state government swung into action and ordered immediate steps for removal of encroachment at Deras dam.
Reacting to the BJP leader’s posting on X, BJD spokesperson Shrimayee Mishra said Aparajita need not link Kiruthika Prabhakaran with Odisha Chief Minister’s office. “Smt Aparajita Sarangi instead of linking Smt. Kiruthika Prabhakaran with CM Odisha, it would be better if she asks about the same relating to CM Maharashtra or Deputy CM Maharashtra,” Mishra said on X while sharing some pictures too.
