TIRUPPUR: The Hindu Religious and Endowments (HR&CE) department has retrieved over 1,300 acres of temple lands in the district from encroachers in the past two years. The department’s efforts, however, are slowed down by a lack of adequate staff, political interference and litigations.
According to details shared by HR&CE department, there are 1,142 temples under its administration in Tiruppur. Officials managed to recover 715.08 acres belonging to 38 temples from 220 encroachers between May 2021- March 2022. Between April 2022 and January 2023, a total of 593 acres belonging to 30 temples were recovered from 181 encroachers.
Hindu outfits charged HR & CE department officials with not taking proactive steps to reclaim properties from encroachers. State secretary of Hindu Munnani JS Kishore Kumar said, “They initiated action to recover land belonging to temples with higher income in the past two years. They are not concentrating on temples that have an income of less than `1 crore. Such temples have vast tracts of farm and pasture lands in rural segments. As less attention is given to these temples, people with political influence encroach on them.”
Shiv Sena (youth wing) president A Thirumurugan Dinesh said, “Officials avoid taking recovery action on temples whose trustees are close to the ruling party. They choose temples, not on the basis of wealth and property.”
An official from HR&CE department in Tiruppur said, “We have one assistant commissioner and 17 executive officers for the whole district which has 1,142 temples. Despite such poor strength, we have checked all records. Besides, influential persons with political power, litigation is hampering the recovery process.
For example, a leading private dairy is sitting on over 150 acres belonging to Velayuthasamy temple in Sivamalai. We have filed a case against them. The civil dispute has been pending in Tiruppur District Court for more than 15 years. Many such cases are proving to be a hurdle for officials in recovering lands from encroachers.”
