Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 4: The state government Tuesday decided to put on block 131 acres of land belonging to Lord Jagannath to boost revenue generation of Srimandir. The government is looking to mop up Rs 1000 crore from the disposal of land in the first phase.
Sources said a decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Secretary GC Pati here at Secretariat.
Sources said the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) will be roped in to sale 131 acres of temple land in the first phase through plotting/housing. Revenue so collected will be added to Srimandir’s corpus. Land will also be offered to farmers having possession over the land to buy.
Sources said the state government has set a target to generate Rs 1,000 crore in next two years by selling the temple land.
“Sale of temple land will help generate more funds for the Srimandir corpus in coming years,” Sri Jagannath Temple Administration chief Suresh Mohapatra, who attended the meeting, said. Concerned state government officials and those from the temple trust also attended the high-level meeting.
SJTA officials said the twelfth century shrine does not have much revenue even though it owns thousands of acres of land spread over the state and outside. So much so that the temple administration recently decided to auction timbers used in three chariots.
Officials said the Chief Secretary has asked concerned officials to place a proposal before the state government to bring in necessary amendments to the existing rules related to sale of Srimandir land.
The Jagannath temple has a whopping 57,000 acres of land spread across the state. Of this huge land properties, 1,900 acres exist between Khurda, Jatni and Bhubaneswar. However, encroachment of temple lands has become a matter of concern for the temple management as well as the state government.
It was decided in the meeting that IDCO and BDA will jointly earmark these lands and would take required steps to set up boundaries to avoid intrusion to temple land by the land sharks.
The Chief Secretary asked IDCO and BDA officials to begin the process in this regard within two weeks. Sources said, BDA and IDCO will have to sign an agreemnt with the temple management before going about the task.
