‘Land scam in IDCO industrial estate’: Lease misuse, unauthorised construction raise eyebrows

A serious land-related corruption scandal came to light involving the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) and a large industrial plot in the Chandaka Industrial Estate near Patia locality in Bhubaneswar.

Also Read: Fresh cases of ‘illegal land acquisition by KIIT University’ come to the fore

According to sources, a software company named Alliance Computer Telephony India Pvt Ltd took a lease of nearly one acre of industrial land from IDCO with the understanding that construction should start within six months and production begin within two years.

However, after 14 years, as the land remained unused, the lease should have been cancelled by IDCO as per the lease agreement.

Instead of cancelling the lease, IDCO allegedly approved building plans and Alliance has sought permission from IDCO to transfer the land to another company linked to KIIT and KISS. Meanwhile, construction activities have reportedly continued on the site despite the lack of formal transfer approval.

Questions have arisen regarding who is responsible for the ongoing construction—whether it is the original lessee or the prospective transferee. Moreover, concerns over unauthorised benefits, skyrocketing land prices, and potential irregularities in leasing and land transfer processes have surfaced.

The directors of Alliance, Rajkishore Agrawal and Sanjay Agrawal from Charampa, Bhadrak, have not responded to inquiries. IDCO officials have also remained silent on the issue, raising doubts about the corporation’s role in allowing the lease misuse and illegal construction.

Price for the 65-year lease period of the nearly 1-acre land was only Rs 20.52 lakh. IDCO gave permission for construction on December 19 last year to the same company that had left the land unused for 14 years. And that too at a time when the concerned company, Alliance, had applied to IDCO to transfer the leased land because it could not carry out any industrial activity there.

What could be the reason behind this? It is said that market value of the land has now increased by more than 100 times.

The file for the transfer of nearly one acre of industrial land at Patia to M/s Kalinga Production and Marketing Pvt Ltd, a company linked to KIIT and KISS, is currently with IDCO. The transfer has not yet been approved. Yet, construction is going on there for KIIT.

Even though the land transfer has not been approved as per the rules, KIIT is allegedly constructing a multi-storey building on the land. Moreover, the land had originally been allotted for a software park, but what is being built there now is an auditorium for KIIT.

A related investigation by the Central Vigilance Commission in 2013 had already flagged irregularities regarding KIIT’s forcible occupation of IDCO land.

This ongoing land controversy underscores the urgent need for transparency and strict enforcement of rules in government land leasing processes to protect public assets and promote genuine industrial development.

IDCO Managing Director has yet to respond to these allegations.

Reported By: Laxmi Narayan Kanungo