Neta's Natter | Pocket burnt, realtors hellbent to halt Puppalaguda auction

Hyderabad: Though the auction of prime land parcels fetched a fortune for the Telangana state government recently, a powerful lobby of some realtors seems to be not so happy about the next round of auctions. The latest round of auction of Puppalguda lands proposed by the state government has not gone down well with these land agents.

The state finance managers were on cloud nine when the previous round of auction of Kokapet lands fetched thousands of crores of rupees. Buoyed by the success of the first round of auctions, the government set the stage for another round to sell 95 acres of valuable land parcels, expecting to make about '5,000 crore.

However, according to sources, a section of powerful builders is playing spoilsport with the government’s dreams. The lobby is said to be in a piquant situation because they do not want to lose prime lands but are facing a severe cash crunch after exhausting it in the previous projects. So, they are allegedly planning to create legal hassles against the auctions.

Chief Secretary at sixes and sevens!

Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar is said to be upset as the High Court is all set to take up the case filed against him by the Centre opposing his continuation in the state. Somesh Kumar was allotted the Andhra Pradesh cadre at the time of bifurcation, but he managed to stay on in Telangana state with the support of an Administrative Tribunal order. Though the Union department of personnel and training challenged the order in the Telangana High Court, the case did not see the light of the day till now. It is listed for hearing next week.

The other day, he was chief guest at the release of a collection of poems penned by his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Adityanath Das. The organisers, while introducing Somesh Kumar, mentioned that he belonged to the AP cadre, much to the discomfort of Telangana’s top bureaucrat.