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Telangana temple faces uphill task of protecting 890 acres of land
The land is located in Purushottapatnam village of Yetapaka revenue division, about 2 km from the temple town of Bhadrachalam on the banks of Godavari River.
The authorities of the famed Lord Ram temple in Bhadrachalam in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district are facing an uphill task of protecting around 890 acres of temple lands, worth crores of rupees, which have been under the encroachment threat over several decades.
The land is located in Purushottapatnam village of Yetapaka revenue division, about 2 km from the temple town of Bhadrachalam on the banks of Godavari River.
What compounded the problems of the Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple trust board of Bhadrachalam in protecting the land is the bifurcation of the combined Andhra Pradesh state in June 2014.
While only Bhadrachalam town along with the temple remained with the Telangana, all the surrounding 211 villages falling under seven revenue blocks were transferred to Andhra Pradesh through an amendment to the AP Reorganisation Act, on the ground that they are part of the submergence areas of Polavaram major irrigation project being built in Godavari River.
Thus, Purushottapatnam village, too, became part of Andhra Pradesh, though it is very close to the Bhadrachalam temple, which is part of Telangana.
“When the village was part of Telangana, too, the lands were under the occupation of locals. But we had at least been getting an annual lease amount from the farmers after waging a legal battle with them over the years,” Bhadrachalam temple executive officer B Shivaji told Hindustan Times.
In the initial days of bifurcation, too, the farmers paid the lease amount towards the encroached lands to the temple, but subsequently, with the involvement of local political leaders and greedy land sharks, they stopped paying the lease amount for the last three to four years.
“Though the lease amount was very less – around ₹3,300 per acre – we allowed them to continue cultivation, as the lands still belonged to the temple trust board as per the documents. But the land sharks eyed the precious lands, whose value now run into crores of rupees due to proximity to Bhadrachalam town. They are now trying to start real estate ventures in the temple lands. We are struggling to protect them,” Shivaji said.
A senior official of the endowments department said the temple authorities realised the magnitude of these encroachments when the villagers of Purushottapatnam resisted the plans of the temple trust board to construct new cottages for pilgrims, create a Ramayana theme park, a “tribal haat” and also a “goshala” (cow shelter) in 2017.
When the temple authorities came to know that the locals of Purushottapatnam were constructing permanent structures in the encroached lands, the temple authorities led by the executive officer, along with temple priests, went to the village to take possession of the lands.
“We told the villagers clearly that it is a temple land, and they do not have any permanent rights over the lands. We made it clear that they cannot take up any permanent constructions there. Just because the lands are now part of Andhra Pradesh, the villagers won’t get the rights,” Shivaji said.
He said, unfortunately, the local revenue officials and the police refused to cooperate with the temple authorities. “We were forced to sit in the police station for several hours as if we were encroaching their lands. Finally, they let us go, stating that the issue would have to be settled by the two governments,” the executive officer said.
A senior official of the revenue department in Andhra Pradesh said the issue is presently in the state high court in Amaravati. He refused to comment on the encroachments by the local leaders for real estate activity.
THE HISTORY OF RAM TEMPLE LANDS
According to the official records, the historic Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy Temple, built by Bhakta Ramadasu (Kancharla Gopanna) during the Qutb Shahi period in the 17th century, has around 1,250 acres of land, situated in Khammam district of Telangana and the remaining in East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh.
A major chunk of these lands – around 910 acres – is situated at Purushothapatnam near Bhadrachalam town. This huge extent of land was donated to the temple by a devotee Somaraju Purushottama Dasu in October 1878, stating that the revenue accrued from the lease of these lands was used for maintenance of the temple.
In 1998, the endowments department of the then combined Andhra Pradesh government had sold 27.5 acres of land to some institutions, including the tobacco board, at the prevailing market rates. As a result, the temple has been left with 889.50 acres.
However, a major portion of this land, measuring 722 acres, had been under cultivation by the local farmers, with which the temple authorities had fought a legal battle for several years. “Despite getting the encroachers evicted several times, they returned after making appeals to the revenue authorities and approaching courts,” the executive officer said.
After a series of court orders, the farmers started paying nominal lease amounts (referred to as damage charges) to the temple in 2005. But after a couple of years of bifurcation of the combined state, the situation had come back to square one, Shivaji said.
The temple authorities lodged several complaints with the police and revenue department officials of Andhra Pradesh, but to no avail. “We have also moved the Andhra Pradesh state high court recently seeking justice,” the official added.
