In an attempt to further streamline the administration, the Odisha government has decided to confer revenue village status to 4,000 hamlets across the 30 districts of the State.
The proposal in this regard submitted by the Revenue and Disaster Management department has been approved by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. With this, people living in these pockets will have better access to the village level administration and it will help them reap the benefits of welfare and developmental schemes in an effective way, officials said on Thursday.
“As per the new guidelines, the hamlet to be declared as a new revenue village is to be located at more than half a kilometre from the mother revenue village with a population of 250 or more. Similarly, a hamlet to be declared as a new revenue village lying within half a kilometre from the mother village should have a population of more than 300. Hamlet separated from its mother village by a natural barrier can be re-organized as a new revenue village even if the population of the hamlet is less than 250”, said Principal Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management department B P Sethi.
People of the newly carved out village will have access to existing Gochar (grazing land) and community land situated in the mother village. All communities, as well as Gochar land, shall remain as the Common Property Resources (CPR) for both the villages.
The newly carved out villages numbering around 4,000 will now get the benefits of various government grants and schemes, the official added.