Bhubaneswar: A couple of days after reports came to fore that the Assistant Director of Horticulture, Ekamrakanan has been directed to surrender around 20 acres of land to the State General Administration department out of its 25 acres of land, the Congress today warned Odisha government of a massive protest if Ekamrakanan land is used for any type of commercial purpose.
Congress MLA Sura Routray said, "Late Janaki Ballabh Patnaik was the man behind Ekamrakanan. Such a big rose park and the quality of red rose flower Ekamrakanan had, was not even in Kashmir. Instead of building commercial establishment, the government should rather carry out beautification works in the park."
He further said that the Congress will not allow the government to cut down even a single plant in the farm. "We will resort to massive protests if the State government will take up any commercial project on the Ekamrakanan land."
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The State Directorate of Horticulture, Krushi Bhawan, recently wrote a letter to the Assistant Director of Horticulture, Ekamrakanan and directed him to handover around 20 acres of land to the State GA department.
“It is to intimate that a decision has been taken by the Govt. for surrender of Ac 20.192 dec from Ekamrakanan farm to GA & PG Department excepting an area of AC 5.775 dec where there are buildings,” the official letter read.
Speaking to OTV, the Assistant Director of Ekamrakanan, Jayant Kumar Nayak said, “We have been informed that the government has already given approval and we have to handover 20.192 acre of land. There’s a need to develop forest areas everywhere now; if the government has taken the decision for some larger interest, what can we do?”