Hyderabad: Government mulls construction of shopping complexes in temple lands in city

Hyderabad: The Endowments Department proposes to construct shopping complexes and Kalyana Mandapams in as many as 13 vacant lands belonging to temples in Hyderabad city with an outlay of Rs 55 crore to generate revenue.

The Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy along with the Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav had a review meeting on the temple lands in the twin cities here on Wednesday. The endowments minister said that the government was taking steps for safeguarding the temple lands. He said that no one would be spared for encroaching temple lands.

The minister asked the officials to identify the unused temple lands and explore options of generating revenue from these lands. He asked the officials to strictly follow the rules with respect to the lease of the temple lands. The minister said that about 13 places are identified in the city where there are temple lands and are not put to use. Endowments commissioner Anil Kumar said that the department has prepared plans for developing the lands.

The minister asked the officials to take strict action against the lease holders who have taken the lands on nominal prices and giving it away on sub-lease to others for a higher price. He directed the officials to change the lease rules if needed and get more revenue to the temples. He also asked them to review the decades-old lease agreements and also rents of the shops belonging to the temples.

The officials informed that with a special drive by the department 1,121 acres of temple lands were taken back and fencing was provided for 21,000 acres of temple lands in the state. Indrakaran Reddy asked the officials to take special steps to resolve the long term court cases and advised to appoint legal officers for better arguments in the courts. He advised the officials to form a special task force by coordinating with the police officials to vacant the encroachers.