Former Endowment Minister Gade Venkata Reddy on Tuesday attributed the collapse of Gali Gopuram of Bhavanarayana swamy Temple at Bapatla in Guntur district to the negligence of Archaeology Society of India.
Talking to media persons at Congress Legislature Party office, Gade Venkata Reddy accused the ASI officials of not taking enough precautionary measures although several temples in the State are on the verge of collapse. He informed that the State Government has appointed a committee to look into the condition of dilapidated temples in order to take up repairs with the coordination of ASI. Of 3500 temples in the State, the committee has identified about 140 temples which needed repairs. Of them, 40 old temples needed immediate repairs. However, the Archaeology Society of India did not take steps to save the ancient temples, he alleged.
Gade asked the state government to disclose the recommendations made by the committee appointed on lands of temples during the reign of former chief minister K Rosaiah. He also asked the government to explain the steps taken to protect the temples' land from being encroached upon by the anti-social elements.
The former minister informed that he would meet Endowment Principal Secretary K V Ramanachary on October 27 to discuss various issues connected with temples in the State. He also demanded that the government should appoint a committee to protect the properties of temples and lands.