As per a report in Tehelka.com, The Art of Living Guru – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is found to be guilty of encroaching more than five acres government land meant to be distributed to the poor and landless, worth Rs. 50Cr, in Karnataka. The disputed land had been utilized for constructing an Art of Living meditation centre on it, violating the law.
According to documents obtained by TEHELKA, MUDA had acquired 100 acres at Alanahalli village near Mysore in 1985, ’92 and ’97 for the development of residential colonies for 1.5 lakh landless poor. Out of the 100 acres notified by MUDA, 70 were developed and the rest was denotified and restored to the original owners.
“The land that Sri Sri acquired was left as a buffer zone and not developed as a residential layout as it allowed for the free flow of water from Chamundi Hills to Alanahalli tank. It was supposed to be converted into a botanical park,” says M Lakshmana of the Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore.
However, in 2002, the land was acquired by the Art of Living through a proxy by the name of R Raghu, even when the land was in the possession of MUDA. And a building was constructed for conducting yoga and meditation classes.
On December 20, 2010 the then Deputy Commissioner of Mysore Harsh Gupta wrote to MUDA directing it to reclaim the government land from the Art of Living, and sought a response within seven days. Gupta’s orders were not carried out. The same day, a letter from the chief minister’s office signed by Principal Secretary ISN Prasad prevented the deputy commissioner and the taluka administration from carrying out its duties. He was transferred from the deputy commissioner’s post to the assistant director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Responding to the claims, Karthik Krishna of the Art of Living’s bureau of communication says, “Since 2003, we have been working to denotify this land that was falsely notified to extract a bribe, which we fought tooth and nail and were also slapped with a fine.” The Art of Living has not encroached on any land, he says. The 5-acre plot was purchased by R Raghu from Gangu Belli Belliappa on 25 November 2002. Since then, the premises have been utilised with the permission of the landlord for conducting yoga and meditation classes, says Krishna.
ACICM Convenor M Lakshmana said “This is not the first time a case of land-grab has been brought against the Art of Living.” In Mandya district the organisation has been accused of grabbing 20 acres. And a 2006 report on government land encroachments in the state had also found discrepancies in its Bengaluru ashram. In Mysore, apart from the five acres of government land, the Art of Living has encroached around seven acres worth Rs 70 Cr near the tourist spot of Chamundi Hills.
V Balasubramaniam, former chairman of Land Task Force, says the AT Ramaswamy Committee report had found that the organisation had encroached upon 6.35 acres of government land in Agara village in Kengeri, Bengaluru. The committee claimed that the land encroached by the Art of Living was worth more than Rs 8 Cr.
Lakshmana has filed a criminal complaint against Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Yeddyurappa. “I have also lodged a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission, asking how a high-flying organisation like the Art of Living could obtain a site when poor and landless people are waiting for the past 30 years,” says Lakshmana.
In a country were the Guru is given utmost reverence, this incident will have a very bad impact, if proved, on the Gen X.
