Hyderabad: Gods and Goddesses will now get pattadar passbooks for the lands they own in their names! The TS government has instructed all district collectors to issue pattadar pass books in name of presiding deities like “Gnana Saraswati Devi, Basar,” Lakshminarasimha Swamy, Yadadri” and the like, if the lands are not in their names.
The aim is to protect 82,000-odd acres of land under 12,000-odd registered temples across the state, besides other properties. Large chunks of lands have been encroached and those on lease besides other buildings pay a measly, or no rent, to the Endowments department.
“The process has begun. Pattadar passbooks will be in the name of the presiding deity with a photo attached as per the HC order. Some properties are on different names, including the names of donors and were not changed. This has led to encroachments,” Endowments minister A. Indrakaran Reddy told DC.
Mr Reddy said that a whopping 40 per cent of the 82,000 acres has been encroached. The government is removing encroachers, resuming the lands and generating revenues for the temples concerned, he said.
Citing an example, the minister said that the government alienated 54 acres out of 450 acres of temple land to the Central government for a railway project in Warangal and got Rs 20 crore, which was put in fixed deposit in the name of presiding deity.
“The interest accrued from the deposit is enough to maintain the temple that was struggling for funds. Such temple lands could be a good source for revenue generation. We are preparing data of all temple lands and other properties in the state,” Mr Reddy explained.
He said temples in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts too have prime lands and properties, a big chunk of which have been encroached, unutilised or underutilised.
“I recently visited an ancient Sri Chennakesavaswamy temple at Chandrayangutta. This temple has about 300 acres of land in Shamshabad and other areas. An acre in Shamshabad costs over Rs 50 lakh. Many people in occupation of temple lands pay meagre or no rent. Some have constructed houses, but don’t pay land lease. They should remember that unless they pay the lease amounts, temples cannot be maintained,” Mr Reddy said.
