Hyderabad: Refuting the allegations made by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao, Telangana IT and industries minister D Sridhar Babu, on Friday, November 21, stated that the Congress is merely facilitating the conversion of these industrial lands.
Earlier in the day, KTR had claimed that Congress is carrying out a land scam of Rs 5 lakh crore in the name of regularising 9,292 acres of land in prime industrial clusters in key areas like Balanagar, Jeedimetla, Sanathnagar, and Azamabad.
He alleged that people close to Revanth Reddy had already entered into pre-arranged agreements for these lands and that the land is now being handed to them at only 30 percent of the government’s standard valuation (SRO rate.)
In response minister Sridhar Babu stated that it was the previous BRS government that had issued GOs to convert lease lands into freehold and that the Congress is merely allowing industrialists to regularise their lands for commercial or other activity. “KTR is speaking without understating the difference between freehold and land lease,” he said.
He stated that the 30 percent figure quoted by KTR is actually the conversion fee and has nothing to do with the market value of the land. He added that out of the 9,292 acres that KTR cited, only 4,040 acres are actually plotted land, while the rest comes under infrastructure like roads or drainage.
He said that if all eligible industrialists chose to regularise their land under the Hyderabad Industrial Lands Transformation Policy (HILTP), the government would earn a revenue of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 crore.
He accused KTR of distorting facts and being bitter after the Jubilee Hills defeat. He asked KTR to prove if any of the names he has stated have signed an MoU and assured that the government will take action in such a case.
