Temple lands grabbed in Srikakulam

Srikakulam: As the officials failed to initiate proper steps, large tracts of endowment lands are under unauthorised occupation in the district. With officials concerned failed to act on encroachments at initial stage, now litigations are pending in courts regarding most of the lands relating to endowment department.

According to sources, noted temples, Srikurmanadha Swamy, Sun God, Sri Mukhalingeswara Swamy, Radha Madhava Swamy, Umamaheswara Swamy, Laxmi Narasimha Swamy, Seetha Ramaswamy, Radha Kantha Swamy, Madana Gopala Swamy and Vasudeva Swamy are having lands across the district and some parts of Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts also.

Bobbili dynasty kings, Peesapati kings of Vizianagaram, Kalinga kings of Odisha and Parlakimidi have donated thousands of acres of lands to these temples. In addition to it, the landlords also donated lands to these temples during land ceiling season.

Umamaheswara Swamy and Seetha Ramaswamy temples at Rajam are having 573 acres of lands in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. But of it, 540 acres extent of lands are in the hands of private persons.

Litigations were pending on all these lands as the endowment officials failed to initiate steps to obtain land records in the name of temple lands at right time. Taking it as advantage, private persons who are in occupation of the lands, started legal battle as the officials failed to produce clear records to prove their right on temple lands.

Vasudeva Swamy temple at Mandasa is also having 1,200 acres extent of lands. But more than 1,000 acres of land have been under litigation and occupation of private persons. Lands of Radhakantha swamy at Palasa, Radhamadhava Swamy at Meliaputti, Madanagopala Swamy at Tekkali are also under the possession of private persons.

Some private persons created records in their names by managing revenue staff but endowment officials failed to prevent it. "Initially, due to lack of availability of relevant records in the name of concerned temples, litigations have been initiated by the private persons when we started claiming of rights on these lands," admitted Endowments Department Assistant Commissioner Y Bhadraji. "We are collecting old records from revenue officials to fight for temple lands," the AC added.