Fight to gain control of unoccupied land
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Hundreds of crores of rupees worth of land measuring a little over 47 acres, belonging to the Sri Laksh-mi Narasimha Swamy Dev-asthanam of Yadagirigutta, situated on Road No. 12, Banjara Hills, has, over the years, dwindled to about 5.9 acres. The land was encroached upon by people who constructed pucca houses and other buildings.
The latest fight between groups supported by labour minister Danam Nagender and others is to gain control of the remaining valuable land.
The reply, filed by the then endowments department regional joint commissioner K. Jyothi in the Lokayukta in 2011, to which this newspaper has access, revealed that out of the 47.19 acres, only 26.36 acres was identified, of which only 5.9 acres, that is, the land on which the Devasthanam temple is situated, is in its possession.
On February 28, 2009, the Hare Krishna movement was allotted 4.38 acres on a lease of 33 years (GO No. 349) and a lease agreement was struck between the endowments department.
Later, a PIL was filed in the High Court.
A complaint was also filed against endowments depar-tment officials on October 11, 2011, by Purushottam Das, a member of the foun-ding family of the Raghu-nathji temple, Maharajgu-nj, regarding the lease and alleged misuse of the land.
However, endowments department spokesperson Jyothi refuted the allegations in her reply to the Lokayukta, stating that the Hare Krishna movement's members’ request was forwarded to the then CM and then to the department officials at several levels, including the executive officer of the Yadagirigutta temple.
The officials in their reply said that the AP High Court had upheld the granting of the lease to the Hare Krishna movement.
Banjara Hills ACP E. Shankar Reddy said, "The land was mostly encroached. Our concern is only to ensure that the peace prevails there."
Mr Nagender said, "The Lokayukta has directed the government to probe in-depth into the affairs of the Hare Krishna movement. The government is in the process of investigating the matter.
The local residents under the NBT Nagar basti committee have been performing puja as per the traditional rituals in the temple and are opposing handing over of the land to the Hare Krishna movement."
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