Bhubaneswar: As many as 1,32,850 families in the state are landless, which includes 61,097 landless families who have applied for land and are yet to get it.
Statistics of the revenue and disaster management department of the state government reveal that Orissa had 3.16lakh landless families in 2007, which have gone up to 4.96lakh in past one decade.
However, as claimed by the department, the state government has been able to provide homestead land to 3.63lakh families.
Of the remaining 1,32,850 landless households, 61,097 who have appealed to the state government for land are yet to get it.
Out of these 61,097 families, 21,778 are from Rayagada alone. Ganjam follows next with 16,258 such families seeking land patch for dwelling.
Likewise, 4,853families in Bargarh, 3,880 in Malkangiri, 2,421 in Dhenkanal, 1,555 in Mayurbhanj, 1,535 in Sambalpur and 958 in Deogarh have applied for homestead land.
The state government last year had said that it identified 1.38lakh landless individuals of which 52,000 landless families had been provided with homestead land.
In June last year the state government had asked the revenue department to provide homestead land to 86,000 landless persons by August 15 of the same year.
The delay has now raise question about the implementation of the government provision of homestead land for landless households/individuals in the state.
Revenue and Disaster Minister Maheswar Mohanty, meanwhile, has said that the state government is taking steps for providing lands to all the identified landless households.
The revenue department officials said that along with homestead land, the state government has also provided 69,906 decimal agriculture land.
PNN