BHADRACHALAM: The Centre’s move to merge few villages of the Khammam district with the residuary Andhra Pradesh has not only affected the people of those villages, but also hit lord Sita Rama Swamy.
The Sita Rama Swamy temple, Bhadrachalam, owns lands worth crores at Purusothapatnam village which will be merged with the Seemandra state with the issuance of the ordinance by the President. Lord Rama has as many as 842 acres lands at this village which is very close to Bhadrachalam revenue village.
Purusotham Das, a devotee of lord Rama, donated about 917 acres of lands to the temple to conduct rituals and other purposes some decades ago. According to the revenue sources, the worth of these lands is anywhere between Rs 70 to 80 crores. The temple also owns about 400 acres of lands in nine Seemandra districts including Visakapatnam, Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari, Prakasam and Kurnool districts.
But the extent of the lands is more in Purusothapatnam village of Telangana region.
Due to the construction of the Polavaram project, barring Bhadrachalam revenue village, all other villages in the Bhadrachalam mandal in addition to other villages will be submerged with the residuary Andhra Pradesh according to the ordinance.
Purusothapatnam village where the temple owns lands will also be merged with the residuary state.
According to the sources, over 700 acres of total 917 acres are under “illegal occupation”. The temple receives only Rs 2 lakh as lease amount from these who illegal occupations every year as against `90 lakh. Though the court gave orders in favour of the temple recently, with the merger of the village with Seemandhra, the situation has taken a new turn.
The officials are worried that vacating the squatters would become difficult for them if the government of the residuary Andhra Pradesh does not extend support to the temple authorities. It is learnt that the temple authorities have decided to take the issue to new Telangana government for protection of the land.
Temple executive officer M Raghunath said, “We will bring the issue to the notice of new government.’’