BRS protests rattle GHMC general body meeting over Hyderabad land policy
BRS corporators and MLAs staged protests and rallies on Tuesday, disrupting the GHMC general body meeting to oppose the Hyderabad Industrial Lands Transformation Policy (HILTP). They demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy withdraw the policy and allocate government land for public amenities such as parks and graveyards.
Hyderabad: BRS corporators and city MLAs on Tuesday held protests and took out rallies, causing disruptions at the GHMC general body meeting, while voicing strong opposition to the Hyderabad Industrial Lands Transformation Policy (HILTP).
The vociferous opposition by BRS leaders to the HILTP policy caused interruptions during the general body meeting of the GHMC.
The BRS party leaders demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy withdraw the Industrial Policy and allot the government land for graveyards, parks, and other basic amenities for the residents of Greater Hyderabad.
Minutes before the GHMC meeting, BRS party corporators and MLAs took out a rally from the MLA Quarters, Adarsh Nagar, to the GHMC head office. They marched holding placards and raised slogans. After reaching the venue, they held a protest outside the main entrance of the GHMC office, demanding withdrawal of the GO.
The GHMC meeting started with a condolence session to pay homage to departed leaders including BRS MLA, Maganti Gopinath, poet, Ande Sri, and AIMIM corporator of Santosh Nagar GHMC division, Mohammed Muzaffar Hussain.
Later, Sanath Nagar BRS MLA, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, spoke about the Hyderabad Industrial Lands Transformation Policy. He said, “The Congress government, which protected crores of rupees worth of government land over the decades for the development of industries in Hyderabad jurisdiction, is now allotting them to other agencies.”
He demanded the chief minister A Revanth Reddy that instead of allotting government land to other agencies under this new policy, the land should be utilised for providing basic amenities for the residents of Greater Hyderabad.
In response, the Congress Party corporators started a heated argument. They demanded the withdrawal of Talasani’s remarks.
Within no time, the BRS corporators reacted, which escalated into a heated argument with the Congress Party corporators.
This incident led to high tension at the GHMC meeting hall. The Mayor tried to pacify the corporators from both parties, but her efforts were futile.
Addanki Dayakar, Congress MLC, asked the Mayor to defer discussion of the matter to the next GHMC meeting. Mayor G Vijayalakshmi agreed, noting that the subject was not on the agenda and to be discussed in the general body meeting.
Nevertheless, the BRS corporators persisted with their protest in front of the Mayor’s podium, leading to a 10-minute brief adjournment.
BRS MLAs include Quthubullapur MLA, K P Vivekanda, Kukatpally MLA Madhavaram Krishna Rao, Sanath Nagar MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav and L B Nagar MLA D Sudheer Reddy spoke to the media on the Industrial police and demanded to withdraw and utilise the lands for the public purpose.
What is HILTP ?
The Telangana government aims to convert decades-old industrial estates within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) limits into mixed-use zones. Industrial areas spread over 9,292 acres at Bala Nagar, Kukatpally, Kattedan, Sanath Nagar, Nacharam, Uppal and Jeedimetla, will be transferred to agencies for the development
The Telangana Housing Board, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) and other agencies have been auctioning lands under their jurisdiction.
Under the HILTP, the government is examining the conversion of lands within the Outer Ring Road (ORR). A total of 9,292 acres have been identified under the policy, of which 4,740 acres comprise plotted areas.
