Bhubaneswar: Nearly 400 acres of land belonging to Lord Jagannath have been identified outside Odisha, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan informed the Assembly on Saturday.

Land found across six states

Responding to a question from Rengali MLA Sudarshan Haripal (BJD), the Minister said that 395.252 acres of Jagannath land have been traced across six states.

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West Bengal holds the largest share of Jagannath land outside Odisha

According to official sources, the largest land parcel outside Odisha is located in West Bengal, accounting for 322.930 acres. Other states where Jagannath Temple land has been identified include:

  • Maharashtra: 28.21 acres
  • Madhya Pradesh: 25.11 acres
  • Andhra Pradesh: 17.02 acres
  • Chhattisgarh: 1.7 acres
  • Bihar: 0.27 acres

Over 60,000 acres recorded within Odisha

The Minister further stated that 60,426.943 acres of land in name of Lord Jagannath are located across 24 districts of Odisha. The revised land records for 38,061.792 acres are currently with the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), Puri.

Illegal occupations detected and eviction cases filed

Verification exercises have also revealed multiple instances of illegal occupation of temple land.

A total of 974 cases have been registered under the Shri Jagannath Temple Act for eviction of 169.86167 acres of encroached land across seven districts of the state.