A pastor from Andhra Pradesh demolished the Church built illegally on a government land after villagers rose in protest and filed a complaint with the Kadapa District Collector.
Pastor K. Nagaraju who also works as a teacher at a government school in at the Kupparajupalle Village School had started constructing a Church illegally on a government land in Sarvarajapet, falling under Veerapunya Mandal, Kadapa District.
Villagers of Sarvarajupet put up a united fight against the construction of a Church in a government land by a pastor Nagaraju and filed a complaint with the District Collector of Kadapa.
In the complaint, the villagers noted that they had raised the matter with the pastor several time but saw no change in his behaviour.
Citing the government order dated 29.11.2012, issued by Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Department of Andhra Pradesh, the villagers stated in their complaint that to construct any religious structure/worshipping centre, District Collector must give permission by examining all feasibilities and documents.
The complaint also observed that since the structure was situated on a government land, it violated the Supreme Court’s judgement vide citation dated 29th September 2009 that states that that no unauthorized construction of any religious institutions namely Temple, Church, Mosque or Gurudwar, etc., shall be permitted on Public Street/Public Space.
Later, it was reported that the Christian Pastor K Nagaraju himself demolished his own Church using JCB and apologized to villagers.
After formal complaints from villagers with District collector against unauthorized church at Sarvarajupet, Veerapunya (M), Kadapa, AP, Christian Pastor Mr. K Nagaraju himself demolished his own Church using JCB and apologized to villagers. https://t.co/UIKcq0rJHx pic.twitter.com/LenTdb63qR
— Legal Rights Protection Forum (@lawinforce) July 17, 2020
The issue was brought to the notice of the broader public by Legal Rights Protection Forum, an organization working for the rights of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. They were instrumental in helping the villagers to file a formal complaint with the District Collector.