Odisha to Digitise Bhoodan Land Records, Act on Temple and Forest Land Issues

09 Sep 2026, 10:22 by Vinay Kakkad · KalingaTV

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has begun a wider push to clean up land records and address long-pending ownership and classification issues, with the state government focusing on Bhoodan land, Lord Jagannath’s properties and land records of educational institutions.

The decisions were taken during a high-level review chaired by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari on Monday. The meeting examined several land and revenue reforms aimed at making services more transparent, faster and easier for citizens.

Bhoodan records to go digital

A major part of the exercise will involve the state’s Bhoodan land. The government plans to scan and digitise old records covering almost all Bhoodan land and connect the database with the Bhulekh land-record system through the proposed Bhoodan-LRMS Portal.

Until the digitisation process is completed, restrictions will be placed on illegal transfers and mutations involving such land. The Revenue Department will also investigate alleged fraudulent transactions and take action to remove illegal occupants.

Officials have been told that Bhoodan land should ultimately be recorded or allotted only in favour of genuinely landless people, in keeping with the original objective of Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s land-gift movement.

4,203 educational institutions face forest-land hurdle

The land-record exercise also covers educational institutions. Odisha has 52,056 degree colleges, high schools and primary schools, of which land-record corrections, or RoRs, have already been completed for 27,556 institutions.

However, 4,203 educational institutions are functioning on land classified as forest land, a status that is creating difficulties in accessing government assistance and other facilities.

The affected institutions include 3,921 primary schools, 255 high schools and 27 colleges. The Revenue Department has been directed to initiate steps to convert the concerned land from forest to non-forest classification.

The government has set December 31, 2026 as the deadline for providing complete RoRs to all educational institutions situated on lease-eligible land.

Government turns attention to Lord Jagannath’s properties

Protection and recovery of land belonging to Lord Jagannath also figured prominently in the review.

In the first phase, land records covering 31,906.52 acres across 17 districts have been recorded in the name of Lord Jagannath. Khordha accounts for 20,507.36 acres of this total.

The government is also pursuing removal of encroachments from land under the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). Action is being taken particularly against encroachments along national and state highways, while revenue cases involving the temple’s properties are also being expedited in line with High Court directions.

The exercise will not be limited to Odisha. The state plans to approach other states in phases to obtain comprehensive details of properties belonging to Lord Jagannath located outside Odisha. Once identified, the government intends to take steps for their recovery and complete registration in favour of Shree Jagannath Mahaprabhu Bije Puri through the SJTA.

34,251 landless families allotted homestead land

The review also took stock of the Vasundhara Scheme, under which surveys have been carried out and 34,251 eligible landless families have received homestead land over the past two years.

The measures collectively point to a broader attempt by the Revenue Department to bring older land records into a more reliable digital system while addressing disputed ownership, encroachment and classification problems.

Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, the Secretary of the Board of Revenue and other senior departmental officials attended the meeting.