Bhubaneswar: A total of 1,615.36 acres acquired nearly two decades ago for the state’s ambitious Shamuka Beach Project in Puri has remained largely locked up without being used for the intended tourism development, with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) flagging govt’s failure to either utilise it or revert it to the original owners or land bank as required under the acquisition law.Sources in the tourism department said there are plans to revive the much-delayed project with a revised masterplan, in the wake of the proposed airport and CRZ regulations. It is working on a new masterplan.The land, comprising 1,397.04 acres of private land and 218.32 acres of govt plot at Sipasarubali village under Brahmagiri tehsil was sanctioned by the Puri collector during 2005-07 for developing the beach project, envisaged to have modern hotels, amusement parks and other tourism infrastructure. Of this, 972.64 acres were transferred to Idco between Sept 2005 and Nov 2006 for the project.However, the land remained unutilised with Idco till Oct 2017, the reasons for which, according to the CAG audit, were not available on record. The remaining 642.72 acres continued to lie unallotted with the collector. It was only after nearly 11 years that the state govt set up the Shamuka Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (STDC) on Oct 31, 2017, as a joint venture of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation Ltd and Idco.Even this did not resolve the land impasse. Idco surrendered its entire 972.64-acre parcel to the revenue and disaster management department in Dec 2020 so that it could subsequently be allotted to the STDC. As of Oct 2024, even four years after the surrender, the land had still not been transferred to the STDC, the CAG said.A joint physical inspection in Oct 2024 found only a boundary wall on portions of the allotted land and a blacktop road connecting the main road to the site.The CAG said that despite the 18-year non-utilisation of the 1,615.36 acres, the govt had neither reverted the land to the original landowners nor transferred it to the land bank in accordance with the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act.In its response in Oct 2025, the department said verification of land allotted to industrial units through Idco was ongoing, and necessary steps would be taken after verification. The CAG, however, noted that the department had still not ensured utilisation of the land surrendered by Idco.