Visakhapatnam: The controversy over allotment of land to a film club on Thotlakonda hillock near a third Century Buddhist complex has barely subsided when another land allotment proposal on the same hill has started a fresh controversy.
Panchayati raj minister, Ch. Ayyanaparudu had announced on November 21 that the government would cancel the land allotment to Film Nagar Cultural Centre after protests from Buddhist organisa-tions that it was too close to their religious complex.
The government has now proposed to allot 20 acres of land, again on Thotlakonda, to the Swamy Narayan Trust to construct a temple like the Akshardham temple in Delhi. This too is being opposed by the Buddhists.
“We consider Thotlakonda as a sacred place and the government should ensure that other than Buddhism related construction and activities, no-thing else takes place on the hillock. The government should withdraw the proposal to allot land to Swamy Narayan Trust to construct a temple here,” said Buddhist monk Bane-ji Dhammanda of Nagp-ur’s Indora Budha Vihara.
Coordinator of the ne-wly formed Buddhist Mo-nument Protection Com-mittee (JAC), Kothapalli Venkata Ramana says th-at he hopes the governme-nt will not allot the land to the Swamy Narayan Tr-ust. “We will have to laun-ch protests again if they do so,” he added.
Chairman of the Visakhapatnam chapter of the Swamy Narayan Trust, N.N. Rathod, said that in no state in South India is there a Swamy Narayan Mandir and it will be an architectural marvel with supporting facilities like audio-visual programmes on the life and history of Swamy Narayan. Swamy Narayan did not preach or proclaim any one religion and therefore the mandir belongs to all, he added.
