Kakinada , Feb 19 (TNT): The Citizens Initiative ,a civic organization has appealed to the Central government to bring the Endowments departments across the country in to the ambit of Right to Information Act (RIA) by way of an amendment to the act to achieve the objective of exposing corruption and improving transparency and accountability in the department .
Duvvuri Subrahmanyam Secretary of the Citizen’s Initiative organization along with other social activists told media persons here on Thursday that the Endowment departments which control and manage temples with income generated from lakhs of acres of lands donated by Philanthropists and Crores of rupees funds donated by devotees are getting exemptions from disclosing the information taking advantage of the judgments emanated from high courts based on the loopholes in the Right to Information act .
Power and position without responsibility and accountability are extremely dangerous and can lead to anarchy and rampant corruption .If at all there is any department in Andhra Pradesh that enjoys power and position with public money without responsibility and accountability, it is undoubtedly the Endowments department’ he said .
Pointing out that majority of endowment lands , especially in Andhra Pradesh are under encroachments by powerful sections and corruption is ruling the roost, he said, right to information act proved ineffective in unearthing the land scams and the misuse of endowments funds , mainly due to the loop holes in the act.
Subrahmanyam has cited the example of Nandyal, comparatively a smaller district in support of temple lands encroachments with the tacit support of corrupt officials .`
The Endowments department has officially announced that as against a total of 35,712 acres of temple lands in Nandyal district about 929 acres was under encroachments’ which speaks volumes of corruption ‘ he added.
The other social activists including Chitneedi Srinivas, GVS Sarma, Kandala Ravi and Ponugupati China subbarao National president of Bajapa Samardhak Manch Senior Citizens cell have made it clear that Endowments department was a custodian but not a owner of the properties donated to temples by philanthropists.
The issue of control and management of temple properties is not a private issue of endowments department but an issue intertwined with trust and sentiments of Crores of Hindu devotees, they added.
Strongly advocating the need for providing more teeth to the Right to Information act to bring the Endowments departments across the country under its fold, they demanded the Central government to amend the act at the earliest.
TNT TMR
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