Oppn furious as TS allots land worth ₹600 cr to BRS for ₹37.53 cr

Hyderabad: Opposition parties are fuming after expensive land in Kokapet measuring 11 acres were allotted to the ruling BRS at a throwaway price in a “secret manner” during the recent Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet on Thursday had approved allotment of the land for setting up an Institute for Excellence and Human Resource Development for ₹37.53 crore but the decision was kept 'confidential' and was not disclosed by ministers who briefed media regarding the Cabinet decisions.

An acre of land in Kokapet is estimated to cost nearly ₹60 crore as per current market price. The 11 acre land parcel costs around ₹600 crore in the open market. Opposition parties said allotting such expensive land to the BRS for just ₹37.53 crore amounts to ruling party looting public wealth through blatant misuse of power.

Interestingly, the state Cabinet had cited allotment of 10.15 acres in Bowenpally to the Congress by the previous Congress government in 2008 at the rate of Rs 2 lakh per acre for setting up National Level Institute for Human Resource Development and justified its allotment to the BRS at a cheaper price now.

Speaking to media in Adilabad on Sunday, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said, "The market value of land in Kokapet is ₹1 lakh per square yard and nearly ₹100 crore per acre. But the Cabinet approved allotment to BRS at a throwaway price. This shows that BRS government is resorting to blatant misuse of power."

The BRS had applied to the state government requesting land for the establishment of the Institute of Excellence and Human Resource Development on May 12, stating that the institute would focus on training and developing public leaders, activists, and academics.

Sanjay Kumar questioned the astonishing speed at which the state government approved the BRS proposal. Opposition parties recalled that the BRS had acquired valuable parcels of land in all district headquarters by misusing power stating that in the Cabinet meeting held in 2018, it was decided to allot one acre of land in all 33 districts of the state at a rate of just ₹100 per square yard. BRS offices were built in 32 districts, excluding Hyderabad.

In Hyderabad, the state government sanctioned a plot of 4,935 square yards (a little over one acre) in Banjara Hills whose market rate was over ₹100 crore for just ₹100 per sq. yard against market price of over ₹2 lakh per sq.yard.