Congress leader Shabbir Ali accuses Telangana CM of selling lung space

Hyderabad: Deputy leader of the Congress in the Legislative Council and former minister Shabbir Ali on Saturday accused Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, of allowing land conversions and putting up Telangana government lands for outright sale.

He said more than 25 GOs have so far been issued by the TRS government for converting land use from vacant to commercial and residential thereby depriving all available lung spaces in Telangana.

“Even parks, nurseries and green belt areas are not spared,” Mr Shabbir Ali said during a media conference at the Assembly premises on Saturday.

He released the contents of 25 GOs that were issued for the change of land use. Of the 25, as many as 23 were issued from Jan. 5 to 8. He said over 145 acres of land in HMDA limits have been converted from conservation zone to residential use through seven GOs. One such GO (Ms 15) was issued on October 28. He said all lands nursery, open spaces and even parks have been converted. The government issued two GOs changing land use from parks to residential in Warangal district.

Similarly, 17.5 acres of industrial and green belt in Kamareddy of Nizamabad district were converted for residential use.

Mr Ali said that the cash-strapped TRS government is aiming to raise funds through all possible means. He said that the Congress had welcomed the government’s decision to regularise up to 125 sq yards of encroachments in Hyderabad. However, the state is on a selling spree of all lands. If this continues, then there will be no land left,” he said.

The former minister appealed to NGOs and environmentalists to rise to the occasion and oppose the change of conservation zones in the state, especially in the city’s outskirts. He demanded that the state government cancel all the GOs and stop issuing further G.Os on the issue to save people and to save the environment.