Hyderabad: The gene research centre of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) will move out of Telangana state if the government fails to address the land issue on a war footing.
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal are said to be lobbying with the Centre to house the gene research centre, which has been delayed by more than eight years.
The Centre is learnt to be having second thoughts about situating the research centre in TS because the government has not yet handed over the required land in Bhongir.
The prestigious project was announced by the previous United Progressive Alliance government in 2009. The then Congress government in undivided AP had allotted 114 acres in 2009 for the research centre, but could not actually give possession because there was a dispute over the ownership of the land. In the three years it has been in power, the TS government has not offered any alternative land, prompting the Centre to seriously consider shifting the Rs 1,200 crore project to another state. The land that had been allotted was 144 acres of Bhoodan land and 40 acres of government land in Rangapur village in Bhongir. A local realtor claimed ownership of the land and sold it off.
He filed a case in the AP High Court challenging the allotment of the land by the government. The court issued a stay order.
Though revenue officials were successful in getting the stay vacated, the realtor approached the court again, and the dispute still persists.
