The Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh is learnt to have decided to order a probe into the allotment of 15 acres of prime land in Visakhapatnam to Swamy Swaroopanandendra of Visakha Sarada Peetham at a throwaway price during the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
The Vizag seer, who was virtually behaving like a spiritual guru of Jagan, had faced allegations of misusing his clout to make big money and amass huge properties in Visakhapatnam.
During the Jagan regime, Swaroopanandendra put forth a proposal to the government to allot 15 acres of land at Bheemili to establish a Vedic university. Within no time, Jagan made the land allotment to the Sarada Peetham at Kothavalasa in Bheemili block.
The present market value of the land allotted to Vizag Swamy was Rs 15 crore per acre, but Jagan made the land allotment at a nominal price of Rs 1 lakh per acre. So, the land which cost Rs 225 crore was allotted to the seer for a nominal rate of Rs 15 lakh.
This became a big issue those days and the TDP and BJP leaders raised a hue and cry then, but the Jagan government did not care for the criticism.
In fact, the officials then had suggested to Jagan that the government could charge Rs 22 crore for the land, rather than Rs 15 lakh, but he did not listen.
However, what shocked everybody was the way the Swamy wrote a letter to the government to allow the Sarada Peetham to use the land for commercial purposes, besides residential and revenue purposes, instead of Vedic University.
Now that Naidu came to power, the issue came back to square one.
The chief minister reportedly ordered an inquiry into the allotment of land to Vizag Sarada Peetham at such a throw away price. If the reports are to be believed, the Naidu government might cancel the land allotment to the Vizag seer.
