Chennai, Jan 3 : Tamil Nadu Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) P.K. Sekar Babu has said that the DMK government ever since it has come to power in the state in May 2021, has retrieved 1640 crore worth of temple land from encroachers. In a statement on Sunday, the minister said that the drive to weed out encroachers from temple land would continue and measures would be taken to use the retrieved land properly. He called upon the encroachers to voluntarily quit from the temple properties and said that the temple land belonged to the "deitya". The minister said that the DMK government had permitted the opening of temples till midnight on December 31 for people to offer prayers at special poojas being conducted as part of the New Year. He said that this was a clear indicator that the DMK government was not against spirituality. Sekar Babu said that the plan to carry out melting of gold deposits in temples was carried out under the supervision of three retired judges on directions from the Madras High Court. He said that trustees would soon be appointed for these temples and the gold deposits smelted at the Government of India smelting unit in Mumbai. He said that the money received would be used to develop the respective temples and the amenities for the devotees. /IANS