Jharsuguda: A day after Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said that illegally occupied land by rich and influential will be freed on priority, a bulldozer was seen in action in Bandhabahal area of Jharsuguda on Thursday.
The equipment was used by the local administration to demolish illegal structures built by an history sheeter named Md Sonu who had been booked under the Arms Act and other Sections of the IPC on multiple occasions.
Other members of Sonu’s family were booked in at least 30 cases by the police. They had built a garage, meat shop, ration shop and another illegal structure at Indira Awas Colony at Bandabahal under Banharpali police limits.
Additional Tahasildar Kulamani Dalei said that Sonu was operating on encroached land and illegal structures. All of these have been identified and demolished. “Similar action will be initiated against all encroachers in the locality,” he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had directed Collectors to take possession of encroached land in rural and urban areas.