Following a clear directive from CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao to take action against illegal constructions in Hyderabad, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has identified 21 unauthorized buildings and brought down 16 of them so far in Gurukul Trust lands near IT hub Madhapur. The prime land, which measures up to 627 acres with a market value of nearly 12000 cr. rupees had fallen into the unscrupulous hands through the machinations at the highest level.
Gurukul Trust was established with a noble intention of spreading education among poor children in and around Hyderabad. Several landlords voluntarily donated the lands for furthering the cause. But the Seemandhra rulers saw a golden goose in the prime land and dared to flout all the rules to grab it with no lesser than CMs of the past leading the pack.
The self-projected CEO of AP Mr. Chandrababu Naidu set the ball rolling of this murky affair by awarding over 300 acres of land to corporates and his loyalists. He himself bought 5 acres to sell it later for a better bargain. Several high-profile high-rises have come up in the disputed land. With the former CM in the list of purchasers several of his colleagues and loyalists only followed the suit.
Telangana movement had all along maintained that the land allocation was illegal and it would review all the land allocations and take corrective action when it comes to power. Staying true to its promise, the government under the directions from KCR started the demolitions of the unauthorised constructions.
The officials refused to divulge the information of the owners of these concrete structures. But media reports suggest some of the names which include a renowned film actor, owner of a huge schools-chain and present minister in Naidu’s cabinet, another international school owner, kith and kin of former CMs, apart from several politicians from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra.
When Telangana movement blew the whistle over these shady deals, Seemandhra media brushed it aside and labelled the activists as anti-development. Despite that, the T-movement consistently and successfully exposed the blatant lies dished out by Seemandhra plutocrats in the name of safeguarding ‘Brand Hyderabad’. Never for once these ‘pepper-spray-spree-likes’ confess that their ‘modus operandi’ was responsible for Hyderabad acquiring the dubious title of ‘Scam Capital of India’.
It is relevant here to recall the Seemandhra lobby’s all out effort to make Hyderabad a Union Territory invoking the bogey of security of Seemandhras and protecting the Brand image of Hyderabad while the deliberations for the creation Telangana were taking place at the highest level. The present brave act of K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s government not only vindicated the Telangana activists’ loud accusation that the development model adopted by the ‘CEOs’ and ‘Mahanetas’ were draining the precious Telangana resources into Seemandhra plutocrats’ pockets. It also brought to light the real motives of these rags-to-riches businessmen, albeit by circumventing existing laws and established procedures.
While the land-grabbers and their proxies, understandably, making hue and cry over the developments, Telangana celebrates the bravado of Chief Minister KCR.