Pradhan urges Telangana govt to halt land auction near Hyderabad University
In a letter to Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy, Pradhan said that Hyderabad’s development as an international education hub must not be compromised
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged the Telangana government to halt the land auction in Kancha Gachibowli near the University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus, and facilitate the amicable demarcation and mutation of the central university’s land.
In a letter to Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Tuesday, Pradhan emphasised that Hyderabad’s development as an international education hub must not be compromised.
On Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers from Telangana, including Union minister G Kishan Reddy, submitted a representation to Pradhan seeking intervention against the Telangana government’s auction of 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli.
Pradhan said UoH ceded approximately 400 acres of land to the Telangana government in 2003 under an agreement that an equivalent land allocation would be provided in return. The exchange remains incomplete as the promised land has not yet been demarcated.
“Compounding this, the Telangana government has now initiated auction proceedings for approximately 400 acres in Kancha Gachibowli, a critical biodiversity hotspot adjacent to the university. This action has generated significant anxiety and resentment within the university’s student and faculty community, demanding immediate resolution,” Pradhan wrote.
He said that UoH has been recognised as an Institute of Eminence and is constantly ranked among the top 20 of the country’s nearly 1,200 universities. Pradhan said that the central government is planning to develop Hyderabad as an international education hub with UoH as its main focal point.
“...Therefore, immediate land demarcation for educational use is crucial, superseding any non-educational land sales... your urgent intervention is requested to direct the state administration to halt the land auction and facilitate the amicable demarcation and mutation of the UoH’s land, securing its legal title.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Telangana chief secretary to ensure that until further orders, no felling of trees be permitted at the Kancha Gachibowli site.
The Union environment ministry on Wednesday wrote to the Congress-led Telangana government, seeking a report on the state’s “illegal clearing of vegetation on 400 acres of forest land” at Kancha Gachibowli. It directed the additional chief secretary (forests), Telangana, to take legal action under forest and wildlife laws as applicable.
The University of Hyderabad Students’ Union and other unions and parties aligned with it have launched an indefinite protest and announced the boycott of classes from April 1, demanding the removal of police personnel and earth-moving machinery from the campus.
The Telangana government’s plans to develop IT infrastructure on 400 acres of land triggered protests. The protests intensified on March 31 as the government maintained that the land parcel belonged to it and not the varsity. The UoH Registrar contradicted the government’s claim that the boundary of the land in question was finalised.
