Telangana IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu on Monday, March 24, assured the Assembly that the government would not take over any portion of the University of Hyderabad’s (UoH) land in Kancha Gachibowli. He also vowed to protect the university’s lakes and rocks.
The Minister made this statement in response to concerns raised by BJP MLA Payal Shankar and AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi.
“The opposition has created a perception that the government is eyeing the university land, which is not true,” Sridhar Babu said in the assembly. He alleged that vested interests were spreading rumours.
Sridhar Babu who is an alumnus of UoH along with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, said that they had a personal responsibility to safeguard the institution. He said the university’s Vice-Chancellor and Registrar had clarified that the land in question did not belong to UoH but acknowledged concerns over preserving the lakes and rocks.
A controversy has erupted over the Congress government’s recent decision to auction off nearly 400 acres of ecologically rich land overlapping the University campus. The decision was condemned by the University’s Students’ Union and several conservationists.
The protest to safeguard the land which houses several wild animals like deer, peacocks, porcupines, among others, gained political traction with Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) extending his support for the cause.
After meeting student leaders at his party office, Telangana Bhavan, he encouraged them to mobilise students from other central universities and assured them that BRS would take up the issue with the Union government. KTR also warned that using the land for commercial purposes would harm the area’s biodiversity and urged students to seek intervention from the Ministry of Environment.
Amid the controversy, Sridhar Babu accused the BJP of provoking student protests while criticising its stance on privatisation.