NALGONDA: A 56-acre land in Veliminedu of Chityal Mandal in Nalgonda district owned by the Dera Sacha Sauda of the controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, has triggered a controversy with local villagers complaining to the revenue authorities to take possession of the property.
The Dera acquired the land, abutting the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway of which nine acres was land earlier allotted for Dalits by the state government. Though these villagers have been fighting against the godman’s organisation for the past few years to vacate the assigned land, the latest verdict by the CBI court against Ram Rahim Singh seems to have provided the much-needed impetus to the local people to up their ante.
Following their fresh complaint, Chityala mandal tahsildar on Saturday visited the land and elicited the views of local people. Later, speaking to mediapersons, he said, “As per rules, the government assigned land should not be given to private persons. Hence, the goverenment will take back the land.”
In fact, according to officials, Dera Baba purchased 55 acres of land including 9 acres 29 guntas assigned land in Survey No 100 to 115 during 2008 at Veliminedu to construct an Ashram. This land was purchased from some of the farmers and some of the realtors residing in Hyderabad. Later, a compound wall was constructed around the land.
On March 7, 2017 Dera Saccha Sauda directors approached the high court and got a stay against removal of compound wall. On April 7, the organisers gave a representation to Chityala tahsildar, saying that they had purchased government assigned land by mistake. If the government sold the land to them, they were ready to purchase it. Later, they also gave representation in this regard to district joint collector and Commissioner for Land records, Hyderabad.
Dera Sacha Sauda member Shyam Lal, who takes care of the land said “We purchased the land by pooling funds to construct an ashram. We submitted representations to officials concerned and if government sell the assigned land, we are ready to purchase.”