NELLORE: Sri Sarada Peethadipathi Swamy Swaroopanandendra Saraswathi has demanded that the Government should not allow Urban Development Authorities like HUDA, VUDA and TUDA to acquire temple lands.

"The Government has initiated moves to take away temple lands and distribute them among poorer sections in the name of social justice. In some cases it has even allowed Urban Development Authorities to acquire same lands and sell them back to businessmen and industrialists. But thousands of temples across the State have no income other than what they get from vested lands.

Hence it should stop acquiring temple lands in the best interests of the society," Swami Swaroopanandendra Saraswathi told reporters on Friday.

He alleged that the Government was not paying the market value for the temple lands. The seer wanted to know whether the Government could dare this with respect to lands owned by churches and mosques.

Conversions issue

Expressing concern over `forcible' conversions, the seer alleged that the Government has done nothing to stop such kind of activities by Christian missionaries in particular at hill areas. "Given this backdrop, Hindu Dharmacharya Mandali has been constituted to tackle this unlawful religious conversions," he said.

The Mandali would chalk out plans to take up alleged forcible conversions, Sri Sarada Peethadipathi, who is the convener for the Dharmacharya Mandali said.

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