Telangana Hyderabad - Land sharks lying in wait to gobble up God’s lands
Here is a perfect example of how, within a month or two following the Endowments Commissioner's meeting with higher authorities emphasizing the need to conserve the temple grounds, the State Endowments Department failed to live up to the expectations set forth. The Veerabhadra Swamy temple in Chintalmet is the most recent in the long history of temples in Hyderabad's Old City grabbing land.
The temple features caverns with a large backyard and foreyard, and it is bordered by a rocky terrain with hillocks. As per the accounts of the devotees that frequent the temple, it is believed to be around 400 years old. But land grabbers have taken advantage of the abandoned temple that few Hindu worshippers ever visit. bjp lawmaker yamuna Pathak claimed in an interview with india Herald that buildings had been built on a significant portion of the temple's backyard and flanks. Currently, there are attempts to create an entrance path into the temple's foreyard. "Once this happens there will be no way for the devotees to enter the temple, and the entry will be permanently closed," she said.
The temple features caverns with a large backyard and foreyard, and it is bordered by a rocky terrain with hillocks. As per the accounts of the devotees that frequent the temple, it is believed to be around 400 years old. But land grabbers have taken advantage of the abandoned temple that few Hindu worshippers ever visit. bjp lawmaker yamuna Pathak claimed in an interview with india Herald that buildings had been built on a significant portion of the temple's backyard and flanks. Currently, there are attempts to create an entrance path into the temple's foreyard. "Once this happens there will be no way for the devotees to enter the temple, and the entry will be permanently closed," she said.
Additionally, it is said that anyone attempting to defend the temple and its grounds is summoned to the local police station and told not to meddle. Nonetheless, a few followers still make sure that the daily rites are carried out. "There is no help either from the government officials or from the local police to protect the premises," asserted the believers. Here is the appropriate moment to bring out the questionable distinction that the State Endowments Department gets poor credibility ratings in the reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The department still maintains its credibility ratings from the period when andhra pradesh was unified, despite the CAG's frequent finds of faults. For instance, each landowner is required to possess a Pattadar Passbook (PPB) issued by the Revenue Department by the Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971. One of the key records for unambiguous land titles is the PPB. It is the responsibility of the Assistant Commissioner of the Endowments department, whose authority the temple falls under, to make sure that all title deeds are accessible and corroborated by Revenue records.
But as of march 2018, the total land holdings of the telangana State's registered temples were 39 guntas and 87,235 acres, before the creation of the dharani site. Only around 21,339 acres of PPBs were accessible out of all of this. For the remaining acres of Endowments land or around 75%, the Endowments Commissioner has not received PPBs. The percentage of PPBs that the CAG discovered to be absent ranged from 7% to 100%. Despite possessing the land, the responsible Executive Officers did not take any steps to secure the PPBs.