Seers threaten fast against property takeover

hubli: the seven-acre prime property on busy station road in hubli has become the bone of contention, with the lingayat maths of the region up in arms against government officials for converting math property for commercial use. the pontiff of rudrakshimath, basavalinga swami, and shivananda rajendraswami of shiggavi math have shot off letters to the ministers of the region and have threatened to go on hunger strike if timely action is not taken.the land was handed over to rudrakshimath and shiggavi math by the government some 200 years ago for religious activities. in 1813, the land was leased to new prince of wales press company limited with the `intention that the press would create employment for the locals''. and sanction was given to utilise the land for industrial purpose. after expiry of the lease period and with the pontiff''s death, no fresh lease agreement was signed. the new prince of wales press in 1934 transferred property to arjun khimji jinning and pressing company. ``when this was done, the math''s approval was not taken'''', sources in the math said. later, the jinning company was renamed a.k.industry. what triggered off a fresh controversy was the sale of the property to ramanujam construction company for rs 75 lakh. and when a complaint was filed with the hubli-dharwad municipal corporation (hdmc) that a hotel had illegally acquired property within the premises, the standing committee of hdmc ordered that the hotel building be demolished. the pontiffs of the maths have complained to the revenue minister against the city survey department for not registering objections before giving the sanction for commercial conversion. the math heads further complained that there was a move to construct a commercial complex on the property. the pontiffs have reportedly mentioned the name of a prominent former mla and and some builders in hubli as being behind the move. meanwhile a k industries, which was awaiting sanction from the urban development authority for utilising the land to construct a commercial complex, had withdrawn their application when objection was raised. but the pontiffs say, the industry has been assured by officials that permission would be granted in due course. a source in the math revealed that the property was worth rs 20 crore and officials have joined hands to take over math property. hdmc mayor firdous konnur said there was no proposal to construct a commercial complex in the property. almost in contradiction, hubli-dharwad urban development authority (hduda) chairman b.s.patil said a request to convert the land for commercial purpose was there before hduda, but was withdrawn later.