Odisha's Land Records: Over 61 Lakh Await Survey Despite Government Deadlines

Significant Delays in Land Record Surveys in Odisha

By RABINARAYAN JENA

Bhubaneswar: In Odisha, over 61 lakh land records are pending for survey, even after the government-imposed six-month deadline has lapsed, raising alarms about potential delays in revenue services, according to sources.

The state administration has initiated various measures to enhance the accessibility of revenue services for citizens. Recently, Suresh Pujari, the Revenue and Disaster Management Minister, introduced the 'Ama Sathi' app aimed at ensuring timely resolution of public complaints.

Minister Pujari, along with senior officials from the R&D department, including Additional Chief Secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee, has been consistently monitoring the effectiveness of revenue service delivery. However, a reported lack of dedication among tehsil-level officials, particularly tehsildars, has obstructed the resolution of public issues.

Data from the department suggests that the government's goals have not been fully realized. In February, the state government instructed all districts to address Column-2 (Khata No. 2) Record of Rights (RoR) cases on a mission-mode basis. This initiative aims to identify rightful beneficiaries and ensure that land records accurately represent ownership. Initially, over 1.72 crore land records across 318 tehsils were earmarked for survey.

Out of these, approximately 91 lakh records have been surveyed and updated, while more than 19 lakh are still under survey. However, over 61.68 lakh records remain untouched for survey. The state had set a six-month timeline for this task.

Despite the deadline passing, the work is still incomplete, primarily due to a lack of commitment from officials, as noted by a senior officer in the Revenue department. In Khordha district alone, there are over 10,82,940 land records, with around 3,37,700 in Bhubaneswar designated for survey.

To date, 1,21,000 records have been updated in Bhubaneswar, while 7,500 are still under survey. More than two lakh records have yet to be addressed by officials. The number of records awaiting survey varies across different tehsils in Khordha district. Balianta has about 85,860 records, Balipatna 55,544, Banapur 72,380, Begunia 76,680, Bolagarh 89,880, Chilika 59,206, Jatani 1,18,465, Khordha 1,06,372, and Tangi 80,853. In Balianta, over 35,000 records, 23,772 in Balipatna, 16,304 in Banapur, 14,629 in Begunia, 22,609 in Bolagarh, 8,064 in Chilika, 69,200 in Jatani, 41,639 in Khordha, and 24,543 in Tangi are still pending survey.