Merger of Purushothapatnam in Andhra Pradesh root cause of Bhadradri Temple lands encroachments: BRS

Tensions flared after an attack on Bhadradri Temple staff by encroachers in Purushothapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The land, donated in 1878, remains encroached despite a High Court order. BRS leaders blame the village’s merger into AP for the ongoing crisis

Kothagudem: In the wake of the attack on Bhadradri Temple officials by those encroaching the temple lands at Purushothapatnam village in Andhra Pradesh, many here believe that encroachments have taken place because of the merger of the village in Andhra Pradesh.

After Andhra Pradesh bifurcation, Chintoor, Kunavaram, VR Puram, Kukunoor, Velairpadu, along with parts of Burgampadu and Bhadrachalam (except Bhadrachalam gram panchayat) mandals were transferred to AP as per the AP Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2014 to facilitate construction of the Polavaram project.

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“Any changes in the borders of a State have to be done by means of Article 3 of the Constitution. But the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in collusion with the NDA government, ensured the merger of the mandals by means of an ordinance,” Bhadrachalam constituency BRS in-charge Mane Ramakrishna told Telangana Today.

Since the merger of the villages, the control over the temple lands was lost due to lack of coordination between the two States. Taking advantage of this situation, many residents of Purushothapatnam and local leaders encroached the temple lands. Both the NDA and AP governments were responsible for the current crisis, he argued.

It might be recalled that the BRS leaders on many occasions demanded the Centre to demerge Pichhukalapadu, Gundala, Kannaigudem, Yetapaka, and Purushothapatnam gram panchayats comprising 17 revenue villages for the development of temple town Bhadrachalam.

The residents of the villages also wanted the same. The issue came to the fore again with the attack on the officials by the encroachers.

According to the temple authorities, a devotee, Somaraju Purushothamadasu, donated 917 acres of land in Purushothapatnam village to Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam in 1878 through a will.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court, which heard writ petition (PIL) No: 169 of 2022 by Rashtriya Vanara Sena and writ petition No: 4533 of 2022 by the devasthanam executive officer, gave a common order on November 7, 2022, concerning the temple lands.

The court directed the concerned authorities to identify unauthorised occupations over the temple land in Survey numbers 1 to 101 of Purushothapatnam village within a period of two months and remove them within a further period of four months.

Despite being armed with a court order for the removal of encroachments, the temple authorities and the endowment department failed to deal with the matter in a systematic manner.