BRS backs protesting HCU students against land auction plan

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS) has extended its full support to the ongoing protest by students of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) against the state government’s decision to auction 400 acres of land in Gachibowli.

Party working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) announced the decision after meeting a delegation of student union leaders and students from HCU at the Telangana Bhavan on Monday, March 24.

The protesting students appealed for BRS’s support in strengthening their protest against the government’s decision. They expressed their anguish on how the Congress government made a complete U-turn while previously allocating the very same lands for university use and now ready to auction them off.

KTR responded positively assuring the protesting HCU students he would raise the issue with the Union Minister of Human Resource Development Dharmendra Pradhan, as the the university operates under the central government’s jurisdiction.

KTR suggested that the students approach the Union Ministry of Environment and urged intervention from the ministry on this matter. He also instructed senior BRS leader Dasoju Sravan and the party’s student wing president Gellu Srinivas to help the students in every possible way.

Meanwhile, the HCU students announced their plans to extend their agitation to universities nationwide.

On March 3, the Telangana government announced plans to auction the land, which reportedly belongs to the university. The Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) has been tasked with designing a master layout for the land.

The bidding process for selecting consultants to plan and auction the plots has already begun. It will be the first major land auction under the Congress-led government since it assumed office in December 2023. It will generate an estimated revenue of over Rs 20,000 crore.