A whopping 29,000 acres of land belonging to the Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri are under encroachment in different districts of the State.
RTI Activist Pradip Pradhan revealed this information, which he said, the Shree Jagannth Temple Administration (SJTA) has furnished to him in response to a RTI application.
As on March 31, 2015, the temple had a total of 59,127.058 acres of land out of which the temple has Right of Records of 30,231.205 acres and the rest 28,895.853 acres were yet to be received.
The highest of 14,693.533 acres were under encroachment in Khordha district followed by 7,718.783 acres in Puri, 2,060.600 acres in Bhadrak, 1,121.818 acres in Cuttak, 990.736 acres in Ganjam, 661.655 acres in Jajpur, 612.888 acres in Kendrapada, 514.625 acres in Baleswar, 131.799 acres in Jagatsingpur, 102.270 acres in Nayagarh, 62.204 acres in Angul, 57.970 acres in Mayurbhanj, 37.850 acres each in Balangir and Gajapati, 45.450 acres in Sundargarh, 34.560 acres in Bargarh, 14.170 acres in Rayagada, 12.020 acres in Keonjhar, 1.610 acres in Dhenkanal, 1.500 acres in Sambalpur and 0.020 acres in Subarnapur district.
However, there is no Shree Jagannath Temple land encroached in Koraput and Kalahandi districts. The temple has 18.820 acres in Koraput and 27.260 acres in Kalahandi district.