TDP selling temple lands on a platter

Hyderabad/Guntur, June 19: Taking strong objection to the way in which crores of rupees worth of temple lands were secretly auctioned at a throw-away price, YSR Congress has said that its fact-finding committee was stopped by TDP cadre at Amaravathi which has provided credence to the misappropriation of temple lands belonging to Amareswara located in Chennai. Platter

‘The way the auction has been conducted and the land being given away to TDP coterie at about Rs 25 lakhs while the original price would be crores of rupees shows the intent of the government and our fact-finding committee will pursue the matter further and will reach Chennai on June 26 and will submit a report to our Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy,’ party leaders Dharmana Prasada Rao and Ambati Rambabu told reporters here on Sunday.

Dharmana Prasda Rao, who heads the fact finding committee along with leaders of Krishna, Guntur and Nellore districts were stopped by TDP workers at Amaravathi when they were enquiring about the temple lands belong to Amareswara Swamy which are now in Chennai.

The lands were auctioned secretly and only three bidders were present as no public notice was given well in advance as per the stipulated norms while lands worth Rs 6.25 crores were given away on a platter for just Rs 25 lakhs per acre.

This has been the commercial agenda of Chandrababu Naidu which he has been pursuing ever since TDP came to power and is continuing.

Our Party President has formed a fact-finding committee to bring out the facts of the underrated auctions and we are supposed to talk to journalists, religious organisations and other concerned parties but TDP workers stopping us at Amaravathi shows that the government has been involved in the misappropriation of land and unethical auction, they said.

We will pursue our mission and will visit Chennai to find out the details of the auction of the land, the extent of land given by the erstwhile rulers to the temple and how it changed hands.

Government and people close to government encroaching government and temple lands is a dangerous trend which should be stopped henceforth and we will explore options to stop such misdeeds, they said.

Earlier too when there was a case of encroachment and illegal mining of lime stone at Piduguralla, the complainant was threatened by police and the government tried to get away from the lurch, they said.

We will pursue the matter and the action should be cancelled and a fresh one should be conducted as per the stipulated norms, they said.