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The Telangana government has announced that a parcel of land allotted to the Vishaka Sri Sarada Peetham will remain with the Hindu institution, withdrawing a decision to allocate it to Hyderabad’s water board.
The reallocation of the land in Kokapet, a suburb of Hyderabad, to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) was opposed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the opposition. Following the backlash, the state government announced on Saturday, February 28, that the land will remain with the Peetham.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy expressed displeasure with officials for not informing about the status of constructions at the site, at the time of reallotting the lands to the water board, the Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement. The Peetham’s representatives met CM Revanth and told him about ongoing constructions on the land, after which he ordered that the allocations made to the water board be cancelled and the lands continue to remain with the Peetham, the CMO said.
The announcement came immediately after state BJP president, N Ramchander Rao, claimed that a temple at the Peetham land would be demolished on the night of February 28, and announced that he would go there to stand with devotees.
He later welcomed the government’s decision to withdraw the reallocation and said, “It was deeply unfortunate that certain actions by Congress created avoidable anxiety around such a revered Hindu religious institution. Matters concerning places of faith must always be handled with sensitivity, respect, and responsibility as it hurts the sentiment of crores of Hindus.”
The BRS government had allotted the two acres of land to the Peetham in 2019. Former Minister and BRS leader T Harish Rao visited the site on February 28 amid reports that the government was planning to evict the occupants. He said that the Peetham paid Rs 1.28 crore for the registration and other permissions. So far, a temple, a cow shelter, a dining hall and a veda school have reportedly been built on the land.