KTR Calls HILTP a ₹5 Lakh Crore Scam

Hyderabad: BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Friday charged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy with orchestrating a ₹5 lakh crore land scam with the Hyderabad Industrial Land Transformation Policy (HILTP), which was approved by the Cabinet at its last meeting.

Calling it “the biggest land scam in the history of India,” Rama Rao claimed the Congress government was seeking to disguise the HILTP as a “land regularisation and transformation initiative,” but it was a deliberately thought-out plan to convert thousands of acres of high-value industrial land parcels for multi-use real estate at deeply discounted rates.

Addressing a press conference, Rama Rao refused to answer questions on the Formula E race case, where the Governor has given approval to prosecute him, and limited himself to saying he had stated his view on it that the law would take its course.

“Revanth Reddy wants to give away at throwaway prices 9,292 acres of prime land in industrial clusters in and around Hyderabad to his relatives, politically connected middlemen, and real estate groups close to him,” the BRS working president said.

Land in industrial clusters such as Balanagar, Sanathnagar, Azamabad, and Jeedimetla is valued ₹40 crore to ₹50 crore per acre, he said, and the total came to between ₹4 lakh crore and ₹5 lakh crore. “Revanth Reddy is planning to give this land away for a mere 30 per cent of the government’s outdated rates fixed by the sub-registrar offices (SROs). The remaining lakhs of crores will directly benefit private pockets,” Rama Rao alleged.

Declaring that public land should not be given away cheaply for private benefit, Rama Rao said: “the BRS government did not allow this to happen but Revanth Reddy is doing exactly what we resisted.”

He said during the BRS regime, we made rules for industrial land conversion with the provisions that anyone seeking to do so should pay 100 per cent of the SRO value. If the land had changed hands from the original allottee, the second owner had to pay 200 per cent of the SRO value. “We did not succumb to pressure from land lobbies and ensured that the land was protected,” Rama Rao said.

He said the HILTP specified that the conversion process would be completed in 45 days. “Why this rush,” Rama Rao asked, and added, “this is because Revanth Reddy’s brothers, followers, and middlemen have entered into pre-arranged agreements for these lands. Deals were struck even before the policy received final approval.”

Rama Rao cautioned industrialists and developers entering into deals under the policy, declaring that “the BRS, once back in power, will reverse the regularisation, initiate a full-fledged inquiry, and ensure criminal action against everyone involved in the scam.”, he said.

Demanding an immediate withdrawal of HILTP, Rama Rao said if the government was sincere, it should reclaim 50 per cent of the land for public welfare and auction the rest, as was the practice in cities like Mumbai, to maximise public revenue. “Instead, Revanth is attempting to loot `5 lakh crore and put at least ₹50,000 crore into his own pocket,” Rama Rao alleged.