Veerraju seeks intervention of CM to stop encroachment of temple lands

Vijayawada: State BJP chief Somu Veerraju has sought the intervention of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to protect nearly 916 acres of land worth hundreds of crores and belonged to Lord Rama of Bhadrachalam located in the Godavari region.

In an open letter written to the chief minister here on Wednesday, he said nearly 980 acres of land belonged to Lord Rama of Bhadrachalam from survey nos. 1 to 101 located in Yetapaka mandal.

The BJP chief alleged that a group of people in the guise of a Christian entity were trying to encroach the lands and do house constructions illegally. When the endowments authorities tried to stop them, they were being abused and attacked.

He also alleged that these people were getting support from some influential sources in the government. Hence, the district administration was unable to initiate any action to stop encroachment of the temple lands, he added.

The BJP leader said though he brought the issue to the notice of the deputy chief minister for endowments Kottu Satyanarayana, he failed to respond properly. This forced him to write an open letter to the CM seeking his intervention to protect the temple lands, he said.

Veerraju alleged that a people’s representative from the ruling party and another individual who left Hinduism to join Christianity were taking up house constructions in the temple lands. They were also encouraging others to do so under their “protection,” he said.

The BJP leader alleged that these leaders were collecting lakhs of rupees from those aiming to construct houses in such lands. Their promise is that they would ensure no official would raise any objection against such constructions, he said.