A notice has been sent to those who have encroached a government land and built a Church, in Elayankanni area of Thiruvannamalai. On enquiring, it was found that the entire hill has been occupied by Christian missionaries. The Church is run by the Vellore Diocesan Catholic Church.
More than 4,500 people are residing in the Elayankanni region of Thiruvannamalai. There is a 150 feet high hill spread across 160 acres of land controlled by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. It is mentioned in the Revenue Department register as Kallankattu. Christian Missionaries who first erected a cross on the mountain in 1961, then occupied 2 more acres of land on the hill and built a Church called Carmel Mountain Matha Temple. Later, the socially and economically disadvantaged locals in the area were enticed and converted to Christianity.
In 2014, Ravi, a DMK MLA from Sengam constituency, laid the foundation stone for a tar road leading to the hill, worth ₹ 30 lakhs. Due to this, five acres of land on the hill have been occupied for parking facilities and the hill has been demolished to make way for a tar road.
On 19th of last month, the Collector of the area, Murugesan, had visited the hills for a tree planting ceremony. He was shocked to see that almost 5 acres of land on the hill had been levelled and construction was underway. He then ordered the Revenue Department to enquire regarding this issue. The investigation showed that the land occupied by the Christian Missionaries was mentioned as Kallankattu in the official documents and that no lease had been issued to anyone for this government land.
On inquiring the local residents, it was found that the Church administration has occupied an entire hill. Notice has been sent to the Church administration to immediately evacuate all areas occupied by them, except for the land on which the Church is built. Similarly, another hill in Saveriyapalayam near this village has also been encroached, and a cross has been erected there, according to a report by Dinamalar.
Arunkumar, the District General Secretary of Hindu Munnani, has submitted a petition to the District Collector regarding the case where construction for Prayer Halls have begun on lands on which only permission for building houses were sought. The petitioner had mentioned that a group of people have been roaming across the area, luring innocent locals who are Hindus by saying that their diseases will be cured through prayer, and that they’re also building Churches and Prayer Halls on lands, where permission was only sought for building houses. He had also requested that action be taken against such illegally run Churches and Prayer Halls.
It is worth mentioning that the pastor who spoke at a Christmas event attended by Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin said that if the pending construction work of various Churches are resumed, then the votes of 60 lakh Pentecostal Christians from that area would go to DMK. It remains to be seen what action the Tamil Nadu government will take on the ongoing Church construction occupying the hill in Thiruvannamalai.
(With inputs from Kathir News)
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