'Land Protection Cell' being set up for temple lands:Official

Rajahmundry,Feb 20 (UNI)The government will set up a 'Land Protection Cell' (LPC) to protect endowment lands, Endowment Commissioner Sundarlal today said.

Speaking to newsmen here, Mr Sundarlal said the government had been taking all steps to protect endowment lands.

A legal cell would also be created in which a retired judge would be there along with two advocates.

There were 40 lakh acre of endowment land in the state.

All temple lands were being computed. He made it clear that temple landss would not be sold.

If necessary, an auction will be conducted to sell the land, as per the direction of the High Court.

Mr Sundarlal said Rs 75 crore corpus fund had been created for the welfare of archakas.

The Endowment Department is taking steps to render service to devotees visiting temples and training imparted to temple staff to respect their sentiments, he said.

UNI