The Odisha government is preparing a new land policy to streamline the management of lands in the name of Shree Jagannath Mahaprabhu, both within and outside the state.
The new policy will be ready within three months, announced Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan during a legislative discussion.
Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan has announced that a new unified policy will be developed within the next three months for the lands owned by Sri Jagannath Mahaprabhu, both inside and outside the state. He also mentioned that all the lands belonging to Mahaprabhu will be settled within the next two years.
The Law Minister stated that 60,426 acres and 943 decimals of land in 24 districts of the state have been officially transferred to Sri Jagannath Mahaprabhu, and this land has been identified. Currently, the title deeds for 38,061 acres and 829 decimals have been revised, and the digitization process is ongoing. The revision of the Records of Rights (ROR) or title deeds for the remaining 22,000 acres is also in progress.
He informed that 974 cases have been filed against encroachers under Section 16-A (I) of the Shrimandir Act. As a result, 169 acres and 86 decimals of land have been recovered from encroachment across seven districts. Additionally, Mahaprabhu still holds 395 acres and 25 decimals of land in six other states, with West Bengal possessing the largest share.
During the question-and-answer session, the Law Minister noted that a separate policy for Mahaprabhu’s land was established during the previous government in 2003. This policy was amended in 2019, but further modifications are needed. After these amendments, the new policy will be presented to the cabinet within the next three months.
He highlighted that 27,410 acres of land have been identified for Mahaprabhu in Koraput district, 38.73 acres in Bargarh district, 29,753 acres in Khurda district, and 45.45 acres in Sundargarh district. While many of these lands previously did not generate revenue, they are now beginning to contribute financially to the temple. Efforts are being made to amend the Records of Rights (RRO) for the land, and soon the lands will be allocated.
Several MLAs, including Ashwini Kumar Patra, Manohar Randhari, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Nihar Ranjan Mahanand, Pradeep Sahu, and Sunil Mohanty, participated in the main discussion on this issue during the question-and-answer session.
