Several news reports stated that the Odisha government has begun the process to sell more than 35,000 acres of land recorded in the name of Lord Jagannath. Reportedly, in a statement in the State Assembly in reply to a question from BJP member Mohan Majhi, Law and Housing and Urban Development minister Pratap Jena said as per the recommendation of a committee under the chairmanship of former Governor BD Sharma and the approval of Jagannath temple managing committee, the state government has taken necessary steps to sell 35,272.235 acres of the temple land.
The minister said, “In accordance with the recommendation of the commission, steps are being taken to sell out the land as per state government’s approved Uniform Policy (Saman Niti).
Meanwhile, the government has already sold out 315.337 acres of land including Bharathi Mata building in Cuttack. Rs11.20 crore earned from the land sale has been deposited in the temple corpse fund, said the minister.
As the news reports triggered controversary among the Jagannath devotees, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) issued a clarification.
Reacting to these reports, SJTA Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar urged the people of the State and millions of devotees of Lord Jagannath not to be misguided by such malicious lies and false reporting. The official twitter handle of SJTA said, “Chief Administrator, Shree Jagannatha Temple Administration (SJTA) clarifies on the issue related to lands of Shree Jagannatha Mahaprabhu. He states that it has been falsely reported that 35,000 acres of land of Lord Jagannatha is being sold. This is a complete distortion of facts and is blatantly false and motivated. The lands, which are occupied or are under the possession of various persons since long but belongs to Shree Jagannatha Mahaprabhu; are being settled by Temple Committee as per the “Unified Policy”, framed for the purpose in the year 2003. The objective of the Unified Policy was to protect the land of Lord Jagannatha. This policy also aimed to bring transparency & uniformity in the processes to be followed for settlement of land to the eligible persons. It is important to note that from 2001 to 2010, 291 acres of land was settled and from 2011 to 2021, 96 acres of land have been settled. These have been settled for the benefit of the public mostly in the form of schools, medical college, roads, etc. Decisions regarding the allotment of land for such public benefit infrastructure projects to the Government and others is taken by the Jagannath Temple Committee. It is again reiterated that the reporting that 35,000 acres of land of Shree Jagannatha Mahaprabhu will be sold, is totally false & motivated. We urge the people of Odisha & millions of devotees of Lord Jagannatha to not be misguided by such malicious lies &false reporting.”
However a few section of devotees are raising many questions over SJTA’s statement. Devotees questioned about the “Unified Policy” and asked the definition of “being settled”.