Forum for Development of North Andhra urges State to accept High Court recommendations 

Visakhapatnam: The Forum for Development of North Andhra (FDNA) has appealed to the State government to accept the recommendations made by members of High Court and House Committee and resolve the Simhachalam temple lands issue.

Speaking to The Hans India, FDNA general secretary A Aja Sharma said that the State cabinet on Thursday discussed about the temple lands issue and the Chief Minister announced that the lands should be regularised based on the market price prevailing in the respective areas. He said there was no rationale in asking the land owners who built houses on them to pay the land price afresh.

The TDP government issued a GO no 578 in 2000 for land regularisation but the people rejected it as they considered land as their own. It may be recalled that TDP government in its first Cabinet meeting held in Visakhapatnam in 2014 assured that the problem would be solved in 100 days. But they did not heed to the recommendations made by the members of the High Court.

Aja Sharma said a House Committee was appointed with a sitting judge to work out on the modalities for regularization of lands. But the government rejected the recommendations and sold most of the lands to temple devasthanam which were owned by the farmers.