Allegations of green cover loss are baseless, say Congress MPs
Congress MPs Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy and Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy on Friday told Sunil Limaye, a member of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) that Survey No. 25 of Kancha Gachibowli was never classified as forest land in revenue records.
Hyderabad:Congress MPs Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy and Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy on Friday told Sunil Limaye, a member of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) that Survey No. 25 of Kancha Gachibowli was never classified as forest land in revenue records. They attributed the vegetation on land to litigation from 2006 to 2024 and the previous government's inaction.
Any land left unattended for over two decades would naturally see bush growth they said, while submitted a detailed memorandum regarding the Kancha Gachibowli land issue to the committee.
Following a favourable Supreme Court ruling in May 2024, the Congress government had acted swiftly in handing over the land to the TGIIC for development. The MPs highlighted the land’s potential to attract investments exceeding `50,000 crore and generate over five lakh jobs.
The MPs stated that allegations of green cover loss were baseless. They noted that several large green spaces exist within a 5-km radius of the site, including the 274-acre KVBR Botanical Garden, the 535-acre golf course in the Financial District, and extensive institutional campuses like ISB (200 acres), TIFR (209 acres), and Indian Immunologicals (100 acres).
They reaffirmed the government’s commitment to environmental conservation, including the protection of rock formations and the creation of eco-friendly parks around such features.
The memorandum clarified that the land in question, recorded as "kancha asthabal poramboke sarkari" in revenue records, had always been government land. Though University of Hyderabad was given possession in 1975, ownership was never transferred. They also cited a 2003 MoU with IMG Academies and the 2004 Panchanama where 534.28 acres were resumed from UoH for public use.
The MPs urged the CEC to disregard misleading claims and support the state’s development agenda on Kancha Gachibowli land.
