Officials raze 16 houses, retrieve 20K sq ft temple land in Kumbakonam

Thiruchirapalli

The HR and CE officials found that as many as 16 houses were built on the land owned by Nanjundeshwara temple, the sub temple of Nageswaran temple in Kumbakonam 50 years ago. Subsequently, the officials sent notices to the house owners in 2016, but they refused to pay attention. However, the officials continued to send notice to the owners for the past few years and so the inmates of 12 houses shifted out a few months back while the remaining four continued to reside there. On Tuesday, the Joint Commissioner (HR & CE) Ilayaraja instructed the officials to remove the encroachment on the temple premises. Temple Executive Officers removed the buildings and retrieved 20,750 sq ft temple land. Heavy posse of police was deputed.