Madurai: The administration of the Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple has retrieved parcels of land and properties amounting to Rs 93.84 crore from people who were encroaching upon them or not maintaining the same after obtaining them on lease in the past four years.About 1,227 acres belonging to the temple administration are spread in the nine southern districts including Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Theni and Dindigul. These pieces of land were donated by kings and common people to the temple for maintenance and the income/produce is used for the temple’s needs.Joint commissioner of the temple, N Natarajan, said many land parcels given to outsiders or leased out had become neglected, and the administration took steps to document and retrieve them. More than 90% of the land is now under the temple’s control, after action was initiated since 2015.A total of 208.19 acres have been retrieved through the temple’s actions. One of the most expensive was the 2.04 acres retrieved in Ponmeni village in Madurai, which was estimated at Rs 51 crore, when it was retrieved in 2017. Many parcels were identified despite there being no proper disclosure of their whereabouts. Plans are under way to lease out these land parcels again.

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