Bhubaneswar, September 7: Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review of the progress of various important reform-oriented initiatives related to land and land records, with emphasis on providing transparent, speedy and hassle-free revenue services to the people of the State.
According to an official statement, the meeting decided to ensure that arrangements will be made for scanning and digitisation of the old records of almost all Bhoodan lands in the State and their integration with Bhulekh through the ‘Bhoodan-LRMS Portal’.
“Restrictions will be imposed on illegal transfer and mutation of Bhoodan land until the digitisation of the records is completed. Thorough investigations will be undertaken into fraudulent transactions relating to Bhoodan land & illegal encroachments will be removed. Giving priority to the noble objective envisioned by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Bhoodan land will be allotted only in favour of genuine homesteadless persons,” said the release.
According to the information shared in the meeting, protection of the land properties of Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannath has been accorded high priority.
In the initial phase, a total of 31,906.52 acres of land, including 20,507.36 acres in Khordha district, has been recorded in the name of Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannath across 17 districts of the State.
It was revealed in the meeting that, in accordance with the directions of the High Court, stringent measures were being taken for the removal of illegal encroachments from Shree Jagannath, Puri land, particularly along national and State highways, as well as for expediting the resolution of revenue cases.
It was decided that letters would be issued to other States in a phased manner to collect comprehensive details of the properties of Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannath located there and complete registration of such properties in favour of Shree Jagannath Mahaprabhu Bije Puri, through Shree Jagannath Temple Administration.
It was further informed that under the Vasundhara Scheme, surveys have been conducted and 34,251 eligible landless families have been allotted homestead land during the last two years.
Similarly, out of a total of 52,056 educational institutions in the State, comprising degree Colleges, High schools & Primary schools, correction of land records (RoRs) has already been completed in respect of 27,556 institutions. Instructions have been issued to ensure that all educational institutions located on lease-eligible land are provided with complete RoRs by December 31, 2026.
Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue and Disaster Management Department); Secretary, Board of Revenue and senior officers of the Department were present at the meeting.
