Dikhyaa Mohanty 
More than 65,000 households living in slums in five state towns received land rights certificates from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday. According to Patnaik, the recipients would also get financial help for building homes. According to authorities, the families who received diplomas during the event in the Kalinga Stadium reside in 875 slums spread across Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, and Rourkela. In his speech, Patnaik informed the audience that 1,72 lakh of the 2 lakh families who would receive land rights have already received them.
Additionally, 1,010 slums have been transformed into “Biju Adarsh Colonies,” which have facilities like streets, tap water in every residence, restrooms, and street lights, among others. In order to grant land rights to poor households residing in urban slums, the state government established the “Jaga Mission” in 2018.
In their criticism of the administration, the opposition Congress and BJP said that the BJD-led government only remembered slum dwellers before elections. “False land right certificates are being supplied to the slum residents. Banks do not accept these for mortgage loans. Government misinformation must end, said BJP leader Babu Singh, who organized a demonstration in front of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). The initiative, according to Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, was driven by politics with an eye on the elections.
