Hyderabad: Lands belonging to the University of Hyderabad are being scrutinised by the state government as the age-old demand by university authorities to transfer ownership of land from the state government’s possession to university authorities stays pending.
According to a senior university official, three secretaries from Telangana State government visited the university campus a few days back and enquired into various details of the lands available with the university and how it is being used.
In the past, the university’s land had been diverted for a variety of purposes including construction of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, National Institute of Animal Biotechnology and even the huge Gachibowli indoor stadium.
Recently, there was a scare among the university students after there were reports that the state government is mulling construction of a building meant for the police department on a piece of land belonging to the university. Earlier, many protests were conducted by students and faculty of the university against various proposals of the state government to transfer lands allotted to the university to private and government organisations.
The land allotted to the university has shrunk over the years by nearly 30 per cent.
At the recently held first reunion of the university’s alumni the issue of diversion of UoH lands for other institutions was raised by a few student leaders and found wide support from the alumni who pledged to help the cause.
Congress MLA and president of the alumni association of the UoH, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, said, “The University of Hyderabad is a fruit of the Telangana agitation conducted in 1969, as it was established after that as part of the six point formula for development of Telangana. The university’s lands should be utilized to construct buildings for itself to expand its number of faculties and research centres to become a world class university. Giving away land to private enterprises like the IMG or encroachment by the TNGOs is not acceptable. Diversion of university lands for any other purposes should not be allowed.”
