TIRUCHY: Tension prevailed in Srirangam for a while after the officials removed the shops and houses encroaching on the temple land on Tuesday.

According to sources, there are around 10 shops and houses located adjacent to the north gopuram of Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple.

As the buildings were constructed on the encroached land, the officials sent notice to the shop owners, but they approached the court. The court ruled in favour of the officials in 2023.

Subsequently, the officials had distributed the notices to the owners of the shops and houses, but still, they failed to adhere to the court's direction.

Against such a backdrop, on Tuesday, the HR&CE officials, headed by the Assistant Commissioner Lakshmanan, along with the Srirangam police went to the spot and started to evict the encroached structures, and the house owners opposed the move.

Subsequently, the officials gave them two hours and asked the shop owners to vacate the spot by themselves, and this triggered an altercation.

Since no one vacated, the officials removed them as per the court's direction. But the shop owners attempted to besiege the officials. With police preventing them, the eviction process continued.