Telangana: Shopping complexes on temple lands to generate revenue

Hyderabad: With vast stretches of endowments lands lying unused in the State, the department has decided to put them to good use and generate revenue for the State exchequer either by constructing shopping complexes on such lands or leasing them out to oil companies to set up fuel stations. In fact, the department has already […]

Hyderabad: With vast stretches of endowments lands lying unused in the State, the department has decided to put them to good use and generate revenue for the State exchequer either by constructing shopping complexes on such lands or leasing them out to oil companies to set up fuel stations.

In fact, the department has already taken up construction of shopping complexes on lands belonging to Chenna Keshava Swamy temple in Chandanagar and Maruthi Mandir in Dilsukhnagar in the city.

Tenders have also been floated for construction of a shopping complex in Jham Singh Balaji Mandir premises in Gudimalkapur, a senior official from Endowments Department told Telangana Today.

The shopping complex at Chenna Keshava Swamy temple was being built on 636 square yards while the one at Maruthi Mandir is coming up on 930 square yards. The shopping complex at Jham Singh Balaji Mandir complex is being planned on 1,800 square yard.

The official said this exercise serves the twin purpose of raising alternative revenue through rentals and protection of precious land from encroachments.

Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy, at a meeting with department officials last week, instructed them to explore the possibilities of generating revenue through alternative sources.

Apart from other factors, revenue from regular sources like seva ticket sales in many temples had declined sharply due to the impact of Covid pandemic.

The Endowment Department is also exploring other avenues including leasing lands to oil companies for setting up their fuel stations. The official said HPCL has already evinced interest and its officials inspected some locations in Warangal, Sadasivapet, Basara and six locations in Hyderabad.

“Currently, they are conducting feasibility study and examining other factors. Based on their response, things will be taken forward,” the official added.

Simultaneously, the department is working towards clearing encroachments from temple lands and is recovering precious lands from unauthorised possessions.

Under this initiative, a special drive was launched last year before the lockdown was imposed. So far, the department has conducted three phases under the drive and taken back possession of over 2,622 acres of land, he said, adding that Mahabubnagar district leads the chart in recovery of lands.

Currently, the fourth phase of ‘operation recovery’ is under progress. In the first three phases, about 2,215 acres were recovered successfully, while under the fourth phase, about 405 acres have been recovered so far.

The department, in coordination with Revenue officials, is identifying lands and verifying data in Dharani portal. Apart from effectively implementing tribunal orders, in some cases of unauthorised possessions, the occupants are being asked to produce documents supporting their claims and cases are being filed in the court to recover the lands, the official said.

The department’s Land Protection Wing led by a Deputy Collector and comprising four Tahsildars and two other officials is primarily concentrating on clearing encroachments in every district, the official added.

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