Odisha is set to witness an increase in the number of tehsils after the 2027 Census, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari announced on Tuesday. The expansion aims to improve administrative efficiency and provide faster services to citizens across the state.
The Minister explained that in the first phase, large tehsils will be divided into smaller ones to ensure better governance. Initially, one Revenue Inspector (RI) circle will be created for every two panchayats, and later, each panchayat will have its own RI circle.
Odisha currently has 317 tehsils, and the government is planning to reorganize them based on rising population and local administrative needs. Minister Pujari said that creating new tehsils will help citizens access revenue services more conveniently, especially in rural regions.
Speaking to the media, the Minister noted that the ongoing process of redefining the boundaries of panchayats, blocks, and tehsils will be completed by December 2025. Once the Census begins, no administrative boundary changes will be made. However, after the Census, new population data will guide the reorganization of tehsils and other administrative units.
The state government has also recently decentralised land sale and purchase services to the tehsil level—a reform that became effective on November 1. This initiative aims to make land-related services more accessible to the public and reduce the need for travel to district headquarters.
The Minister added that increasing the number of tehsils in the coming years will further simplify service delivery and strengthen grassroots governance.
