Hyderabad (PTI): The Andhra Pradesh government is desperately searching for about 8500 acres of land in the state for burial and cremation grounds for different religions.

It has received 935 proposals from gram panchayats and urban local bodies seeking 8498.32 acres of land for burial and cremation grounds even as the state government turned to philanthropists and donors for land as land is in severe short supply.

An extent of 27,708 acres of land is currently allotted for burial and cremation grounds in gram panchayats and urban local bodies in the state.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who held a high-level meeting on the subject, has directed district Collectors to identify required land for burial and cremation grounds.

He directed the Collectors of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts to identify land along the 160-km Hyderabad Growth Corridor for burial and cremation grounds.

He also wanted the officials to constitute advisory committees at the local level, headed by the respective tahsildars, for beautifying and maintaining the burial and cremation grounds, a press release from the Chief Minister's Office said.

The Chief Minister announced that Rs 100 crore would be earmarked in this years budget for burial and cremation grounds.

The Chief Minister's directives on burial and cremation grounds come in the wake of mounting criticism that his government was indiscriminately selling away huge tracts of government land without even sparing space for burial or cremation of the dead.

Mr. Rajasekhara Reddy also directed the revenue authorities to take necessary steps for protection of existing burial and cremation grounds from encroachers. Initiate stringent action, including legal, against the erring unscrupulous people, the CMO quote the Chief Minister as saying.

Chief Commissioner of Land Administration S V Prasad, Principal Secretary (Revenue) Rajeshwar Tiwari and other officials atteded the meeting.