Amendments to Act to get back encroached endowments lands

VIJAYAWADA: The State government has decided to amend Section 83 and 84 of the Endowments Act to get back all the encroached temple lands and the amendment bill will be discussed at the cabinet meeting scheduled to be held on May 26, Deputy Chief Minister (Endowments) Kottu Satyanarayana said. 

Addressing the media at the Secretariat on Monday, he said more than 2 lakh acres of temple land across the State was under encroachment. Of the total, 1.58 lakh acres of land belong to temples with an income of below Rs 5 lakh per annum. 

The government is planning to constitute vigilance and security on the lines of CVSO setup of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to protect temple property. The wing will be headed by a police officer of the rank of Inspector General. Its responsibilities include providing temple security, protecting temple lands and curbing corruption, he explained. 

Speaking on development works taken up with the Common Good Fund (CGF), he said the pending works will be completed on a priority basis and new works proposed by public representatives will be executed in a time bound manner. “We have received many proposals from MLAs, MPs and people’s representatives pertaining to development works at temples as part of the initiative to improve pilgrim amenities. All the proposals will be looked into, he assured.

The Endowments Department is considering releasing money to 653 temples for ‘Dhupa Deepa Nayvedyam’ from the CGF. About 1,600 small temples across the State are getting Rs 5,000 per month under Nayvedyam. “We are striving to implement best practices in the Endowments Department and the temple administration will be strengthened,” he added.