Plight of Hindu Temples in Andhra Pradesh

(From Eenadu TV Interview coverage in 2007)

Some Highlights

Total Temple Lands: 420,000 acres

Total number of temples under Govt: 34,443

87% of Temples (30,000 temples) under Government  control cannot even afford Dhoopa, Deepa, Naivedyam.

20% of Temples Lands (80,845 acres) are encroached mostly by political patronages.

40% (167,000 acres) are leased mostly by politicians under fictitious names paying Rs 3 to Rs 40 per annum.

Number of court cases: 6547

Note: Since 1972, there are no land donations to Temples.  Land under priests control is 1,32,000 of which Magani is 22,000, Metta is1,10,000

Encroachments (20% of Total Temples lands)

Specific examples:

Srikakulam:  786 temples own 10, 440 acres farm land, 105 fruit plantation.  Still most of the temples cannot even afford  daily dhoopa, deeva, naivedya

Sri Kurmam and Arasavilli:  Most of the land owned is encroached

Simhachalam: 33% of the land  is lost to encroachers.

West Godavari:  Temples have 12,000 acres , most of the land is encroached.  Most of the documents related to these lands have been destroyed by corrupt officials.

Bhadrachalam: Sita Rama Swamy temple owned 900 acres  are encroached

Vijayawada Kanaka Durga temple: It has 220 acres, most of it is encroached

Kurnool: Temple land is 60,000 acres.  Hundreds of acres are encroached.

Sale/Lease of Temple Lands

Almost all the lease holders are politicians operating under benami names (fictitious names).  Most of the places the lease value a temple gets is Rs. 3  to Rs. 40 per acre.

Within 1 year of YSR Government, 1000 acres of land  have been illegally transferred.   The endowments commission at that time sold 245 acres of land in Ranga Reddy district at far below market rates.

Current YSR Government attempted to sell 50,000 acres. The market value of this property is 7,500 crores.

Specific Examples
 

East Godavari District: Temples own 21,000 acres.  This is one of the most fertile lands in India.  But the temples get Rs, 30 lakh per annum as lease amount i.e., Rs.  140/acre whereas private farmers earn thousands of rupees/acre.

Srikakulam: 786 temples own 10, 440 acres farm land, 105 fruit plantation.  Still most of the temples cannot even afford  daily dhoopa, deeva, naivedya

Simhachalam:  67% of, Land gets a lease of Rs. 6 lakh/annum

Ranga reddy district:  Jannaya gudem:Lakshmi Narasimha swamy temple proerty worth 850 acres has been taken over in the name of Fab city.  The  market value of land is  Rs. 1 crore/acre whereas Govt decided the market value as Rs, 40,000 i.e.,  xx% of the market value but  hasn’t paid even a single rupee to Endowments department.

East Godavari Temples:   Recently in a survey of  Fixed Deposits in temples in East Godavari  66% of  temples are gone/spent.

Hyderabad?:  Government never deposited money for the land taken for Imliban bustand.

Guntur:  12 acres of hot property worth 12 crores has been sold by Govt for 36 lakhs.

Note: Money recovered on all the property in terms of lease  - Rs. 44 cr/annum

Disappearing Temple Lands

Most of the temple lands in East and West Godavari  have turned into illegal prawn ponds.

In Anantapur, temple lands come to 29,000 acres. Even officials don’t  know whether there is any income