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Odisha issues land ownership certificates 65,000 slum dwellers
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said the city is not only for the rich, even the poor have the right to live in the city with their families
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday issued land ownership certificates to 65,000 poor families living in slums in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, and Rourkela.
At a programme organised at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Patnaik said the poor people have the first right in the city. “The city is not only for the rich. Even the poor have the right to live in the city with their families. The labour of the poor is added to every brick used in the construction of the city. We should all respect their contribution. Jaga Mission has given respect to the poor, giving them a new identity,” he said, adding that Odisha is the only state in the country to give land rights to slum dwellers.
The chief minister said financial assistance will also be provided to the beneficiaries for construction of houses. The second phase of the certificate will be issued in October. The campaign which started in 2018 would continue till all the poor families of these cities get land rights. So far more than 2,40,000 families in different cities of the state have received land rights. Along with this, 40,000 families have been given assistance for building houses in the aim of achieving slum-free Odisha.
Odisha won the UN-Habitat’s World Habitat Awards 2023 for Jaga Mission that recognises and highlights innovative, outstanding and revolutionary housing ideas, projects and programmes from across the world.
Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged protests in front of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation office alleging that Patnaik was distributing fake Land Record Certificates under the Jaga Mission.
“Naveen babu launched Jaga Mission in 2016 and termed it as the world’s largest land rights scheme. But the scheme turned out to be an eyewash for the beneficiaries as people with Jaga Mission Land Record Certificates (LRCs) in Chhatrapur and Konark were denied bank loans against those lands. These LRCs that the government is distributing among slum dwellers are fake and I think this is the biggest betrayal of this century,” alleged former state president of the BJP, Sameer Mohanty.
Terming the Jaga Mission a drama, Congress MLA Taraparasad Bahinipati said as per the Supreme Court order, slum dwellers staying at a particular place for years cannot be evicted. “The government is bound to give them land certificates. But Naveen Patnaik is doing a drama here by doing the same thing under the guise of Jaga Mission,” he said.
