The Odisha cabinet on Tuesday approved granting land rights to slum dwellers living in municipalities and Notified Area Councils (NACs) and property rights to those living in municipal corporations.
The cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, approved promulgation of two ordinances for assigning land rights and property rights to identified slum dwellers.
"We have taken a historic decision today to grant land rights to the slum dwellers living in municipal councils and NACs of the state and property rights to those living in municipal corporation areas," Patnaik said after the meeting.
The government said about two to three lakh families would be benefited following the decision.
Under the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Ordinance-2017, land rights shall be settled with landless slum dwellers in municipalities and NACs by the government.
While land up to 30 square metres shall be settled free of cost, land above 30 square metres, subject to a maximum limit of 60 square metres in NACs and 40 square metres in municipal council areas, shall be settled at a percentage of the benchmark value of the land, said Chief Secretary A.P. Padhi.
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Land shall not be used for any purpose other than residential purposes, he added.
"Land right shall be heritable but not transferable. It may be mortgaged for the purpose of raising finance in form of housing loan from any financial institution," said Padhi.
Under the Odisha Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance-2017, all slum dwellers belonging to economically weaker sections shall be entitled to a dwelling space of 300 square metres at an affordable cost as determined by the government.
"Property rights in relation to dwelling units shall be heritable and transferable after 10 years only to the eligible beneficiaries. Property rights in relation to housing sites shall be heritable but not transferable," said Padhi.
A slum redevelopment and rehabilitation committee will be constituted at the urban local body level headed by the Commissioner at the corporation and Collector at the district-level to grant the certificate of property rights.
--IANS
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