Koraput: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday ordered the formation of a committee to look into the issues related to ‘disputed’ Kotia gram panchayat in Odisha’s Koraput district.
The committee will be chaired by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari and submit a report to the CM after reviewing the ground situation there.
This was decided in a meeting, which was also attended by Pujari, Public Works and Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Nikunj Bihari Dhal, Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department Deoranjan Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department Satyabrata Sahu, secretaries of various departments, DGP Y B Khurania, and Koraput collector V Kreethi Vasan, among others, in Odisha capital.
Minister for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development Nityananda Gond joined the meeting virtually from Nabarangpur, a CMO release said.
Notably, there has been a territorial dispute between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh over Kotia panchayat since 1968. Though the Supreme Court in 2006 directed both states to maintain status quo, tensions over governance and development interventions persist in the region. Recently, a new controversy had emerged after residents of 21 disputed villages were found with Aadhaar cards issued in Odisha having details written in Telugu.
Officials from Andhra Pradesh have in the past entered the disputed region and also held gram sabhas.
