Centre, State government eye public sector enterprise lands in Telangana

Nearly 7,200 acres in Telangana, worth a whopping Rs.40,000 crore in the open market, are at stake.

Hyderabad: Lands belonging to Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in Telangana are now being seen as gold mines. Both the State and union governments are vying with each other for a piece of this valuable pie to fill their coffers. Nearly 7,200 acres in Telangana, worth a whopping Rs.40,000 crore in the open market, are at stake.

The BJP-led union government floated the National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) in June 2022, to carry out the monetisation of non-core assets of CPSEs as well as other government agencies. Accordingly, it proposed sale of Hindustan Cables Limited, Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) and Ordnance factories in Telangana as part of its disinvestment plans.

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However, the then BRS government strongly objected to the Centre’s proposals. The then Industries Minister KT Rama Rao wrote to union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asking to either consider revival of these CPSEs or allow the State government to establish new industrial units in such lands. Further, the State government did not issue ‘No Objection Certificate (NOC)’ mandatory for divestment and sale of the CPSEs’ assets.

After the BJP came to power for the third consecutive term at the Centre, the proposals for divestment in CPSEs have been reconsidered and were sent to the State government for the NOC. Around 7,200 acres belonging to the six companies in Telangana, along with the companies, are proposed to be sold to private players as part of the divestment scheme. The value of these lands is estimated to be nearly Rs.5,000 crore at government rates and as per open market prices, the value could be over Rs.40,000 crore. The union government is reportedly planning to disinvest in about 27 CPSEs located in Telangana and these six CPSEs are only part of the first phase.

Sources said that the Congress government wa not averse to privatisation of the six CPSEs, but was not willing to part with the lands allotted to these companies. Accordingly, the Congress government in Telangana had suggested the Centre to either establish new companies in these lands to create fresh employment or hand them over to the State government which had originally allotted lands to these CPSEs. IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu submitted a representation in this regard to union Heavy Industries Minister HD Kumaraswamy in Delhi recently.

“If the Centre wants to go ahead with its divestment plans and sell its assets, the State government made it clear that the lands should be returned to Telangana. We will utilise these lands to attract fresh investments. However, a part of these lands also will be utilised to mobilise funds for the State government schemes,” official sources said.

It may be noted that the land prices in Telangana especially in and around Hyderabad have shot up significantly over the last 10 years. Both the Centre and the State governments are confident that sale of these lands will ensure additional revenue for them, to address the fiscal shortfall.