Members of the Devotees Welfare Trust of the Pattathu Easwari Udamanar Kalyana Sundareswarar Temple have urged the District Collector, T.N. Hariharan, to retrieve a piece of land belonging to the temple from a private person.

In a memorandum today, the petitioners alleged that the land was encroached upon by a family residing close to the temple at Uppilipalayam in the city.

“We had initially put a fence around the temple to prevent encroachment, But part of the fence was removed by the family members and they started construction work there,” they said and added that the members had approached the City police in this regard. The police failed to take action, they alleged.

“We have a copy of the letter from the local authorities, which clearly says that the land belongs to the temple.

However, no concrete action has been taken by the authorities to stop illegal construction,” a member said.

The members sought permission from the administration to allow them to raise a concrete wall around the temple so that encroachments could be avoided.