VISAKHAPATNAM: Environmentalists and Buddhist Monument Protection Committee activists have welcomed the status quo ordered by the High Court on GO 131, which limited the Thotlakonda heritage site to 120 acres. Kothapalli Venkataramana, who filed the PIL, said the GO had been kept confidential though it was issued on July 31.
He said the GO was against the earlier GO 627 issued in 1978, which notified Thotlakonda situated in survey number 314 at Mangamaripeta (village) hamlet of Kapuluppada in Bheemunipatnam taluk of Visakhapatnam district bounded comprises 3,300 acres.Without doing any scientific survey, the YSRC government declared the heritage site as 120 acres only, he alleged and urged the court to order excavations to pave the way for scientific survey by the ASI.
‘It’s 3000 acres’
Former energy secretary EAS Sarma welcomed the HC order and said the GO was limiting the heritage site to only 120 acres instead of the original 3,000 acres in survey number 314. He alleged that the government was trying to hide facts.