Hyderabad: After the controversy over Raidurg land involving the State Bank of India (SBI), the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) has run into another dispute over land in Hyderabad Knowledge City proposed for auction in the third week of Aug.The controversy began after rock activists and others claimed that the land proposed for auction had been listed as a heritage site under a govt order issued by the municipal administration department in Jan 2003.Activists said the hillocks around Durgam Cheruvu were around 250 years old and included among 23 heritage rock formations protected under the zoning regulations of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). They questioned how the state govt could proceed with the auction despite the heritage status.The TGIIC has proposed to auction two land parcels, each measuring slightly over five acres, in Survey No. 83/1, Raidurg Panmaktha. The agency has been conducting a series of govt land auctions in the area over the past few months. Based on the average rates achieved in previous auctions, the state govt has fixed an upset price of Rs 175 crore per acre.The govt expects to generate around Rs 2,000 crore through the e-auctions scheduled for Aug 21 and 28. In the previous auction held in May, TGIIC fetched a record Rs 237 crore per acre for land in the same area.TGIIC vice-chairman and managing director K Shashanka dismissed the claims that the auctioned parcels fall within a heritage site. He said the layout in Survey No. 83/1, Raidurg, was approved by HMDA in 2008 after clearance from the then conservation committee.Shashanka said the proposed plots maintain a mandatory buffer of around 50 to 60 metres from Durgam Cheruvu and that the rock formations were not disturbed while the layouts were being prepared.Meanwhile, former minister T Harish Rao has demanded the immediate cancellation of the proposed TGIIC auctions covering 10.63 acres in Survey No. 83/1 at Raidurg Panmaktha village, scheduled for Aug 21 and 28.In a letter to chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday, Harish Rao questioned the govt’s decision to auction the land despite what he described as serious concerns over its heritage status, competing ownership claims and ongoing legal disputes.He said the govt has a statutory responsibility to protect heritage property and cannot proceed with its alienation without first establishing its legal status.Harish Rao also recalled that Revanth Reddy, while in the opposition, had approached the Telangana high court in 2020 seeking protection against the creation of third-party interests in land falling within the same Survey No. 83.Questioning the govt’s present position, Harish Rao said, “When you were in the opposition, you went to court seeking protection against third-party interests. After becoming CM, how can you permit the creation of third-party interests over the very same disputed land? Is this one rule in opposition and another in power?”He also questioned the decision in the context of other contentious land-related issues, including Kancha Gachibowli, Lagacharla and Maulana Azad National Urdu University. He alleged that the Congress govt was increasingly treating public land as a source of revenue rather than as an asset belonging to future generations.Harish Rao demanded a comprehensive examination of all heritage, revenue, survey, title and Waqf records relating to Survey No. 83. He also sought an investigation into allegations that certain records may have been missing, misplaced or tampered with.
