Jeypore slum dwellers to get land patta

A large number of slum dwellers who have been living on government land for years in Jeypore municipal area in Odisha's Koraput district are now all set to get land patta.
The authorities will soon start a survey work to identify the beneficiaries of the plan to distribute Record of Rights (RoR) to the slum dwellers.
"Tenders will be floated soon to hire a private agency to conduct the survey work. Once the survey is over and the original beneficiaries are identified, the land pattas will be distributed," said Sub-Collector of Jeypore, Chakravarthy Singh Rathore.
"We are hopeful of completing the entire exercise in next few months," he said.

Rathore said a patta for 484 sq ft of land will be given to each beneficiary. While land measuring 323 sq ft will be given free of cost, the beneficiary has to pay the required fee for the remaining land, if he or she needs it. The fee for land measuring more than 323 sq ft will be decided by the municipal council, Rathore said.
If a person has kept more than 484 sq ft of land under his possession, he will not be evicted from the surplus land. However, he will not get land patta for for the surplus area under his possession, he added.

According to an estimate, over 7,500 slum dwellers are living in the town. While the slum dwellers are deprived of various government benefits, they always face the threat of eviction.
Officials said the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Ordinance, 2017, assures land rights to the urban poor households in municipalities and notified area councils for residential use that is heritable, mortgageable and non-transferable.