Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P.K. Sekar Babu inspecting a temple land under litigation over encroachment in Krishnagiri on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Eviction of encroachments on temple properties will continue and the present government has recovered temple properties worth ₹6,075 crore in the last three years, said Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P.K. Sekar Babu here on Wednesday.
The Minister earlier inspected the temple lands that have been encroached upon by granite quarries and are currently being contested by the government in the court.
Inspecting Balekuli Perumal temple, and Pattalamman temple; Nilagiri Anumantharaja Swamy temple at Nagamangalam in Kelamangalam, Mr. Babu said, the temple lands have been encroached to the extent of over two acres and seven acres, where granite quarrying was carried, or quarries were set up, or quarry wastes were dumped.
The encroachments by granite quarries on the aforementioned temple lands were taken up for investigation after 2021, when this government took charge. Now the case is in the court, and the inspections were also to submit field report to the court before the upcoming hearing, the Minister said.
Speaking on the government crackdown on encroachments on temple lands, Mr. Babu said, over 1.69 lakh acres of land were identified through rovers and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department have staked claim by pitching stone markers delineating boundaries.
Over 18,000 acres of temple lands that were fraudulently transferred with pattas were retrieved and those pattas were cancellend. The department has taken control over 6,000 acres of temple lands. The department has appointed 38 special tahsildars in 38 districts exclusively to identity temple lands and flag encroachments and constantly monitor temple properties, at an annual expenditure of ₹10.50 crore, he said.
Similarly, there have been encroachments by stone quarries in the abutting temple lands. Over nine acres of such lands are affected by such stone quarrying. The violations that had taken place in the last decade were identified and notices were issued. Such encroachments in the form of quarry pits were also hidden from public view by dumping of sand. A complete investigation will be carried out and the encroachers will be brought to book, he said.
