Bhatti Accuses BRS Government of Multi-zone Conversion

Hyderabad: The state government on Tuesday exposed the “double standards” of BRS on industrial land conversion in Hyderabad, releasing documents to establish that the previous BRS regime had itself initiated large-scale conversion of industrial land into multi-use zones in 2022.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers D. Sridhar Babu, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao presented the evidence at a joint press conference held at the Secretariat after the Cabinet meeting, countering allegations made by BRS leaders K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao against the Congress government’s Hyderabad Industrial Land Transformation Policy (HILTP).

Sridhar Babu displayed decisions of the Cabinet sub-committee on resource mobilisation constituted under the earlier BRS government, which included Rama Rao and Harish Rao, stating that it had prepared plans to mobilise nearly ₹40,000 crore by converting 9,263.71 acres of industrial land into multi-use zones.

He said the earlier government had devised an online application process, allowed just three days for filing applications, fixed a seven-day window for approvals, and gave three months for payment of conversion charges. Except for the addition of two payment slabs — 30 per cent and 50 per cent of sub-registrar office (SRO) rates — introduced to make the scheme workable, the present HILTP mirrored the procedures drafted under the BRS regime, he said.

Bhatti charged that the previous BRS government had selectively cleared industrial land conversions to benefit a chosen few and had not framed any transparent policy nor taken Cabinet approval. He said the Congress government would release comprehensive details of all such conversions made during the BRS tenure.

Stressing that the Congress government policy was designed to be transparent and accessible to all, Bhatti said industrial land conversion was essential for both revenue generation and environmental protection.

Hyderabad had expanded far beyond the limits of traditional industrial hubs such as Nacharam, Moula Ali, Uppal, Jeedimetla, Balanagar and Kukatpally, he pointed out, noting that residential zones had grown around these parks over five decades.

With increasing pollution concerns and judicial directions to relocate Red and Orange category industries from urban centres, the government had worked with officials, stakeholders and the Cabinet to prepare a structured policy that would pave the way for shifting industries outside the Outer Ring Road.

Bhatti said the policy permitted conversion at 50 per cent of SRO rate for plots with 80-feet road access, and at 30 per cent of SRO rate for plots with less than 80-feet road access, adding that higher conversions would strengthen state revenues without imposing additional tax burdens on people. Welfare programmes required sustained financial resources, and land conversion offered a viable, non-burdensome option for revenue mobilisation, he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy reminded that the industrial land conversion mechanism originated in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2013 following Supreme Court orders to shift polluting units in the city to the outskirts, and subsequent governments, including the BRS, had continued the same approach. The present HILTP, he clarified, was framed strictly in line with the recommendations of the Cabinet sub-committee on resource mobilisation chaired by Bhatti.