Bhubaneswar- In a major step toward improving land administration, the Odisha government has announced that it will begin mapping 1,635 revenue villages across the state. This initiative comes after decades of slow progress, with only a fraction of notified villages being fully mapped over the last 34 years.
Between 1991 and 2024, only about 1,000 villages were officially declared as revenue villages. However, successive governments managed to prepare maps for just 300 of them, leaving the remaining 700 villages without formal mapping. The new government plans to correct this backlog by completing the mapping for these villages and adding newly formed ones to the list, bringing the total to 1,635 villages that will now be surveyed and documented.
According to Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari, each tehsil will set up a dedicated desk to carry out this task. The goal is to complete the mapping within a fixed timeline and provide legal recognition to these villages, ensuring they become operational as formal revenue villages. The minister emphasized that the current government is determined to finish what previous administrations could not accomplish over three decades.
Once a village receives revenue status, it will get a separate, officially sanctioned map. This will lead to a reorganization of land records for residents, including updated plot numbers and account (khata) numbers. The names of these villages will also be entered into the official Bhulekh land records system.
Villages with more than 250 residents and located within 500 meters of an existing revenue village will be prioritized under the new plan. These habitations will be officially classified as revenue villages, ensuring their eligibility for government services, schemes, and infrastructure planning.
This move is expected to improve clarity in land ownership, simplify land transactions, and provide long-overdue administrative recognition to thousands of residents. Minister Suresh Pujari has shared that detailed guidelines and timelines will be issued soon to ensure smooth implementation across all tehsils involved.
