Hyderabad: Land sharks lying in wait to gobble up God’s lands

Hyderabad : Here is a classic example of how the State Endowments Department failed to walk its talk within a month or so after the Endowments Commissioner held a meeting with higher officials stressing the need to protect the temple lands.

The latest in the saga of land grabbing of temples in the Old City of Hyderabad is the Veerabhadra Swamy temple located in Chintalmet.

The temple is surrounded by a rocky area with hillocks, has caves with a vast backyard and foreyard. According to the devotees visiting the temple, the place of worship is considered to be about 400 years old.

However, the neglected temple, which is not frequently visited by the Hindu devotees, has fallen prey to land grabbers.

Speaking to The Hans India, BJP leader Yamuna Pathak said a large extent of the backyard and sides of the temple have been encroached and constructions have come up. Now, efforts are on to encroach the foreyard of the temple with an entry route. "Once this happens there will be no way for the devotees to enter the temple, and the entry will be permanently closed," she complained.

Also, anyone trying to protect the temple and its premises is allegedly called to the local police station and warned not to interfere. However, some devotees continue to ensure that the daily rituals are performed. "There is no help either from the government officials or from the local police to protect the premises," the devotees said.

It may be mentioned here that the State Endowments Department has earned the dubious distinction of low credibility ratings in the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

Despite repeated fault findings from the CAG, the department continues to enjoy the same credibility scores from the time of then united Andhra Pradesh.

For example, as per the Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971, every land owner shall have a Pattadar Passbook (PPB) issued by the Revenue Department.

PPB is one of the main documents for clear title to land. The concerned Assistant Commissioner of the Endowments department, within whose jurisdiction the temple is situated, is required to ensure that all the title deeds are available and verified with Revenue records.

However, before the advent of the Dharani portal, the total land holdings of the registered temples in the Telangana State as of March 2018 stood at 87,235 acres and 39 guntas. Out of this, PPBs were available only for an extent of about 21,339 acres.

The Endowments Commissioner has not obtained PPBs for the remaining acres of Endowments land, which comes to nearly 75 per cent.

The absence of PPBs found by the CAG ranged from seven per cent to 100 per cent. The Executive Officers concerned did not take action to obtain the PPBs, though the land was in their possession.

The executive officers of the Endowments department, who draw salaries on government scales vis-a-vis priests of several temples, were found only giving casual replies that they are in the process of obtaining PPBs.