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The Telangana government’s call to auction 10.63 acres of prime real estate in Hyderabad’s IT corridor for a minimum of Rs 1,860 crore has triggered criticism as the plots lie right next to the Durgam Cheruvu lake. Critics have expressed concern that the land falls within the lake’s catchment area and is also close to heritage hillocks protected by the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority Zoning Regulations 1981.
The e-auction of the two adjacent plots, part of the Raidurg Hyderabad Knowledge City, is scheduled for August 21 and 28, the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) has announced. The plots in survey no. 83/1 – 5.25 acres and 5.38 acres – fall under the Raidurg Panmaktha village of Serilingampally mandal. The TGIIC has set a minimum price of Rs 175 crore per acre for the auction.
The Corporation also said that the site boundaries depicted in images in its auction brochure were only representative, and the exact land extent would be determined through a joint survey along with the successful bidder. However, the geographic coordinates of the auction site shows that it is barely 300 metres from the lake.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T Harish Rao wrote to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy asking him to cancel the auction, saying the land was a heritage site. The rocks surrounding Durga Cheruvu are nearly 2.5 billion years old.
There were also competing claims of ownership over the land by the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Waqf Board, he said.
He also pointed out that back in 2020, when CM Revanth was in the Opposition as a Congress MP, he had moved the High Court against the allocation of around 31 acres of land to real estate developer DLF in the same Raidurg area. Revanth’s contention at the time was that the land, originally allotted by the government to DLF Raidurg Developers, was eventually transferred to a firm connected to My Home Constructions, owned by Jupally Rameswar Rao, who was seen as a close associate of the BRS.
Harish Rao also referred to the Supreme Court’s observation in a case involving disputed land nearby in Survey no. 83/2, noting that the court wanted to avoid creating any third-party interest.
He said that the auction would create third-party interests, “undermining public confidence”. He referred to a recent instance when TGIIC had put up for auction around five acres of land in the same Survey no. 83/1, but the SBI went to court claiming ownership before reaching a settlement on being offered alternative sites.
The TGIIC on the other hand has reportedly said that the layouts put up for action were approved after considering heritage rock conservation guidelines and the lake’s buffer zone.