Visakhapatnam: They have assets but can't own!

Visakhapatnam: For decades, residents of Varalakshmi Nagar near Vepagunta struggle to claim ownership of their property.

The neighbourhood located at survey No:24 of Cheemalapalli Revenue Village is tangled in the land dispute that prevails between the revenue department and Simhachalam Devasthanam.

While the revenue department officials claim that the colony falls under their ambit, Simhachalam Devasthanam authorities argue that the site belongs to them. Currently, the dispute is pending in the court.

Earlier, land regularisation certificate (LRC) was issued by the devasthanamto a few. Meanwhile, revenue department also laid poles in some parts of the colony.

This has led to serious confusion among the residents of Varalakshmi Nagar as they are not sure whether the colony belongs to the devasthanam or the revenue department.

At present, the land issue of Panchagramulu is kept pending in the AP High Court. In case if the issue gets sorted out, the residents still have no clarity whether their lands need to be regularised or not. "In case if we get our property regularised through Simhachalam Devasthanam, what is the guarantee that the revenue department will not interfere later? Unless the no objection certificate is issued by both endowments and revenue departments, we really cannot claim right over our property," says RRB Varma, secretary of the colony's residents' welfare association.

Though the residents here own property worth crores of rupees, there is always an element of insecurity prevailing among them. During contingency, the residents say that they are not able to sell the property they 'own'.

Sharing other problems in the locality, president of the RWA Gantla Narasimha Murthy says, "The burial ground in the colony doesn't have basic amenities. Also, the roads and drains need to be repaired as they are pretty old."

Adding further, RWA joint secretary B Demudu Babu says, "Shortage of sanitation staff is another problem we come across."

Residents of the 35-year-old colony hope that their land dispute gets sorted out amicably by both the devasthanam and the revenue department.