Odisha govt plans to settle Lord Jagannath’s land through 2003 policy: Min Harichandan
BHUBANESWAR: A day after Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) filed a police complaint over alleged attempts to sell land belonging Lord Jagannath under Matitota mouza in Puri, Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan on Sunday issued a stern warning against any such illegal activity.
“Illegal sale of the Lord’s land will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against all involved including the sub-registrar, the buyer and seller,” he said.
Expressing serious concern on the issue, Harichandan said the state government is planning to recover all land belonging to Lord Jagannath in and outside Odisha that are under encroachment and settle them as per the uniform policy formulated in 2003.
Admitting that maximum land parcels belonging to Lord Jagannath are under encroachment, the minister said the government will first focus on such land in Puri.
“Not only in Puri but also in many other parts of the state, criminals have illegally occupied land belonging to Lord Jagannath. Strict action will be taken against them. Steps will also be taken to identify land in other parts of the country,” he said.
Harichandan said as per the uniform policy a small portion of the land will be given to the person or family who is in possession at a concessional rate and the remaining part will be sold at benchmark or market value.
“The government hopes to create a corpus fund of around Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore from this. The revenue in the corpus fund will be used for nitikanti (rituals) of the Lord,” he said.
However, BJD Rajya Sabha MP Subhasish Khuntia came down heavily on the state government on the issue. If Lord’s land has been sold, the government should examine the revenue records and take action, he said.
He also said that the creation of a corpus fund for Lord Jagannath temple was the idea of Naveen Patnaik government. Opposing Harichandan’s statement on utilisation of corpus fund money, Khuntia said rituals of the temple are never conducted with funds from the corpus fund.
“The minister should do some work instead of giving statements,” he said.