Temple land regularisation awaits go

Two months ago, the State cabinet has taken a decision and the beneficiaries of the regularisation scheme are eagerly waiting for a GO to this effect. It was during the new State cabinet’s first meeting, held at Vizag in June, last year, Mr Naidu announced that the government would solve the long pending Simha-chalam land issue.

Thousands of acres in Adavivaram, Vepagunta, Chemalapalli, Purusho-ttapuram and Venkatapuram, which are called as ‘Pancha Gramalu’, were later given to farmers for cultivation by the Simhachalam Temple Board for nominal fees. Farmers made a livelihood from cultivating cashew, mango crops.

In course of time as the city developed and expanded, these farmers started selling their lands to realtors. Later, the government began efforts to restore the land to temple board and the furore from those who bought these sites also died down.

In 2000, the then Naidu’s government issued GO No. 578 to regularise lands which was later withdrawn by the Congress government in 2004. The State government is said to have ordered for a fresh survey of the encroachments before issuing the GO and the survey is yet to begin.

The latest cabinet decision is based on the enumeration or survey taken up by the Simhachalam temple authorities in 2008, that there are 12,149 structural encroachments on 419 acres.

“Before filing an affidavit in the HC and releasing a fresh GO as per the cabinet decision, the State wanted a fresh survey, which will begin in a month,” said a senior official of district administration.