BJP MPs from Telangana have urged the central government to intervene and restrain the Telangana government from auctioning 400 acres of land belonging to the University of Hyderabad (UoH). BJP state president, Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy, along with party MPs from the state met Union Human Resource Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday to discuss the issue of Kanche Gachibowli lands auction.
Union Minister of State Bandi Sanjay, MPs Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Etala Rajender, Dharmapuri Aravind and Nagesh also met him. They appealed to Dharmendra Pradhan to take appropriate steps to protect the environment and the heritage lands. They said that Kanche Gachibowli lands are very beneficial for the environmental balance of Hyderabad.
They alleged that the Revanth Reddy government is looking to convert these lands into real estate and make thousands of crores, saying that the entire area is teeming with 700 types of medicinal plants and 220 types of birds. They said that the entire people of Hyderabad, including UoH students, are opposing the government’s decision. They urged the Center to intervene immediately in the matter of Gachibowli lands and take appropriate action.
On the other hand, the police stopped the BJP MLAs who proposed to visit UoH lands to find out the prevailing situation there. The police have placed BJP several leaders under house arrest, including BJP Legislative Party leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, who had called for a visit to the UoH.
The police have also stopped several youth and student leaders from various districts who had set out to visit the UoH.
BJP MLA Dhanpal Suryanarayana Gupta criticized the Congress government for using hundreds of JCBs to cut down trees and sell the lands in UoH for the past few days.
He deplored that while governments are spending crores of rupees to establish research centers for environmental protection, the Congress government is unable to allocate lands for many projects proposed by the central government. If the lands in the state are being sold like this, from where will the lands required for development projects be allocated in the future?, he asked.
He expressed his anger that while the BRS government had previously mortgaged the lands of Kokapet, now Revanth Reddy is trying to sell lands beyond KCR. He recalled that Revanth Reddy had previously said that government lands would be used for libraries, community halls, hospitals and schools for the future of students.
But now he was angry that they were trying to sell the same lands. He expressed concern that if lands were sold at will like this, there would be serious damage to the environment and students.
Meanwhile, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy has asserted that the ownership rights over 400 acres in Survey No. 25 in Gachibowli are entirely with the state government. He said that the Congress government has secured the rights by fighting the cases filed in the High Court and the Supreme Court on this. He made it clear that not a single inch of this land belongs to UoH.