Residents oppose HR&CE attempt to recover temple land

TIRUPUR: Residents of various settlements around Mangalam Road have opposed Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department’s action to recover temple lands in the city.
On Friday, more than 500 residents staged a hunger strike against the department, which has intensified its action to recover temple lands after a Madras high court order, at Parappalayam.
Despite knowing that they could not win the battle legally, the residents were ready to fight democratically to save, as per their claims, their hard-earned lands. The opposition parties, including DMK, CPM, CPI and Congress, have extended their support to the protesting residents.
Sources in the HR& CE department said: “20.87 acre of temple land located on Karuvampalayam, Sheriff Colony, LRG Layout, Senguthapuram, Mullai Nagar, Palayakadu, KVR Nagar, Chellam Nagar, Ayyan Nagar, Dhanlakshmi Layout and Alangadu have been encroached. The encroached lands belonged to two temples, Visweswaraswamy and Veeraraghava Perumal temple and Nallur’s Visweswaraswamy Visalatchi Amman Subramanyaswamy temple.”
The department has issued show-cause notices to 45 residents at Sengunthapuram.
“Title deeds for all these lands were in the name of deities of the two temples. If so, the properties of the deities, being considered as minors always, no one can utilize them against the interests of the deities,” said A Muthu Palaniappan, former assistant commissioner of the department, who worked in combined Coimbatore district.
All these disputed lands were illegally sold by the then temple trustees around 50 years ago. Many former revenue officials could also have conspired in further stages in helping to sell the lands during the periods of Updated Registry Scheme (UDR in 1980) and computerization.