Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has begun the process to sell more than 35,000 acres of land recorded in the name of Lord Jagannath.
Making a statement in the State Assembly in reply to a question from BJP member Mohan Majhi, Law and Housing and Urban Development minister Pratap Jena said as per the recommendation of a committee under the chairmanship of former Governor BD Sharma and the approval of Jagannath temple managing committee, the state government has taken necessary steps to sell 35,272.235 acres of the temple land.
The Minister said there are 60,426.943 acres of the temple land in 24 out of 30 districts in Odisha of which the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has decided to obtain the Record of Rights (RoR) of 34,876.983 acres and sell 355.252 acres of land in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
Sources said the state government has decided to collect the amount from people who have encroached upon the temple land.
As decided, those who have encroached upon the temple land for more than 30 years, 20 years and 12 years and are willing to take possession of the land, will have to pay Rs 6 lakh, Rs 9 lakh and Rs 15 lakh per acre respectively.
