The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday took a key decision on the MANSAS Trust and Simhachalam land issue. The government has appointed Endowments Commissioner as nodal officer to provide the necessary support to the Vigilance and Enforcement Department, which is investigating the alleged irregularities in land issues pertaining to the MANSAS Trust.
Vigilance officials are probing 862 acres of land that were removed from the Simhachalam temple property list during Ashok Gajapati Raju’s tenure as chairman. The government has directed the Vigilance and Enforcement Department to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the matter. The Chief Secretary to Government was directed to submit a comprehensive report within three months of the completion of the inquiry.
The probe is likely to continue, despite the MANSAS Trust allocating land to private companies intending to build a medical college in Vijayanagar. The Endowment department has identified large-scale land irregularities at the Simhachalam Temple, MANSAS Trust during the N Chandrababu Naidu government, i.e. between 2016 and 2018. The officials, who submitted a 100-page report to the commissioner, said in their report that the removal of 862 acres of land from the temple property list was true.
A three-member committee that inquired into the alleged irregularities that took place during the tenure of then EO K Rama Chandra Mohan of Simhachalam temple had submitted its preliminary enquiry report to the government on July 17.
