By Rabinarayan Jena, OP
Bhubaneswar: A total of 4,203 educational institutions in the state are operating on forest-classified land, creating difficulties in accessing government assistance and other facilities, according to Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) department sources Monday.
The issue was highlighted during a high-level review meeting of the department, chaired by R&DM Minister Suresh Pujari, at Lok Seva Bhawan here Monday. Officials informed the meeting that, of the 52,056 educational institutions in the state, including degree colleges, high schools and primary schools, land-record corrections have been completed for 27,556 institutions.
All educational institutions located on lease-eligible land must be issued complete land records by December 31, 2026. Of the institutions yet to be addressed, 3,921 primary schools, 255 high schools and 27 colleges are located on forest-classified land, they said.
The minister directed officials to immediately initiate steps to convert the land to non-forest classification. Pujari also said there had been irregularities involving large tracts of Bhoodan land in the state. To identify such cases, the department will first scan and digitise old records of all Bhoodan land and link them with the Bhulekh land-record system. Until digitisation of the records is completed, restrictions will remain on illegal transfers and mutations involving Bhoodan land.
A thorough investigation will be conducted into alleged fraud involving Bhoodan land, and illegal encroachers will be evicted, Pujari said. He said the original objective of Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement would be given priority and that Bhoodan land would be allotted only to genuinely landless people. The minister also stressed the need to protect land belonging to Lord Jagannath.
In the first phase, current land records have been prepared for 31,906.52 acres of land in the name of Lord Jagannath across 17 districts. Of this, 20,507.36 acres are in Khordha district. In accordance with directions from the High Court, stringent measures are being taken to remove encroachments from SJTA land, particularly along national and state highways, and to expedite the resolution of revenue cases.
The meeting also discussed measures to protect and recover Lord Jagannath’s land located in various districts of Odisha and in other states. It was decided to identify other states in phases, collect comprehensive information on the temple’s land holdings there, recover the properties and take steps for their complete registration in favour of Lord Jagannath Mahaprabhu, Puri, through the SJTA.
