Settlement of land rights in favour of urban slum dwellers begins across Odisha

Bhubaneswar, March 13, 2018: Settlement of land rights in
favour of slum dwellers begins across Odisha with the State Government signing a
MoU with the Tata Trusts on Tuesday.

The MoU was signed between the Housing and Urban Development
Department and Tata Trusts for field implementation of settlement of land
rights in urban areas in presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The first of its kind initiative in the country will grant
land rights to slum dwellers in Municipal Corporations, Municipalities and
Notified Area Councils (NACs).

Seven months ago, the State Government enacted The Odisha
Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2017 for providing land and property rights
to slum dwellers in small towns and cities

The CM congratulated Tata Trusts who will be providing
technical support for this initiative and urged all District Collectors and officials
to accord top priority to this work.

“There was a choice between continuing the practices of
evictions and treating people as encroachers resulting in lakhs of families
living in fear and insecurity or recognizing the immense contribution to the
life of the city and providing them land rights,” said Patnaik.

Keeping people first, Patnaik said, “We choose the second
option. A seemingly complication situation always has a simple solution. This
has been done for the first time in the country and they say it is path
breaking and historic.”

The CM directed Collectors and officials concerned to accord
top priority to this work which will bring happiness on the face of the slum
dwellers.