Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has started the process to sell 34,876.983 acres reclaimed landed property of Lord Jagannath, Law Minister Pratap Jena informed the State Assembly on Tuesday.
Replying to a question raised by MLA Mohan Charan Majhi, the Minister informed the house that 60,426.943 acres of land in the name of Lord Jagannath have been identified in 24 districts across the State of which 34,876.983 acres have been reclaimed by the temple administration so far.
“Steps are being taken to sell the reclaimed land as per the Saman Niti (uniform policy) approved by the government,” Jena said.
The Minister informed that apart from a building at Bharati Mutt in Cuttack, 315.337 acres of Jagannath land in different districts have been sold out and Rs 11,20,77,000 have been deposited in the temple corpus fund.
Jena also said that 395.252 acres of landed property of Lord Jagannath have been identified in six other states. Collectors of the concerned districts are being contacted to sell these property, he added.
The Minister further informed that 582.255 acres of land of Lord Jagananth in Khorda have been leased out to Odisha Cashew Development Corporation and Rs 3 lakh revenue is generated annually. He added that photographs of different beshas (attires) of Lord Jagannath are being printed and sold.
He said a hundi (donation box) has been installed at Natamandap of Srimandir for collection of donations from the devotees. Required fees are being collected from devotees who donate ornaments to Lord Jagannath, he added.