Temple encroachment: Four-member committee to probe land grab by Eatala Rajender

Hyderabad: Telangana government has ordered an inquiry against former Health Minister Eatala Rajender for allegedly occupying Sri Seetha Rama Swamy temple land at Devarayamjal village in Medchal Malkajgiri district.

"Government received several complaints about large scale encroachments and illegal transactions of lands belonging to the Seetha Rama Swamy temple located at Devarayamjal village. The Endowment Department is claiming that an extent of 15. 21 acres 13 guntas belongs to the said temple. A couple of regional newspapers have extensively reported about the encroachment of temple lands by Eatala Rajender and his associates," the order said

The government said it has been reported that these individuals have unlawfully occupied large extents of temple land.

"It is reported that the value of land encroached is more than 1000 crores and the temple has been defrauded of such high-value properties. It has also been reported that large constructions have been made on these lands without any valid permission. Besides, it has hurt the sentiments of the devotees and the land donors. These actions constitute grave violations," the order said.

The government has constituted a four-member committee to investigate into the land grabbing at the temple. Headed by Raghunandan Rao, Commissioner Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, the committee comprises Prashanth Jivan Patel, Collector of Nalgonda, Bharathi, Collector of Mancherial district, and Seetha Mohanty, Collector of Medchal Malkajgiri.

The team has been asked to check details of encroachers, land, nature of encroachment, present usage, details of documents processed by the encroachers, details of permission issued by any government body, and violations of existing government regulations.