Civil society, students want Kancha Gachibowli to be retained as eco zone

Hyderabad: Civil society organisations and student associations of the University of Hyderabad on Sunday told AICC in charge of Telangana, Meenakshi Natarajan, not to auction the 400 acres of contentious Kancha Gachibowli land and retain it as an ecologically sensitive zone.Meenakshi Natarajan held meetings with representatives of civil society organisations, student unions, and academics from the university at Gachibowli Stadium on Sunday and elicited their views on the 400-acre land issue. She had met the three-member ministers' committee and NSUI unit of the university on Saturday. She said she would be meeting all the stakeholders to find a solution to the issue."We are not concerned about who owns the 400-acre land at Kancha Gachibowli. It is an ecologically sensitive area, and it should be retained like that or developed further on the environmental front. The state govt can set up IT companies and industries, creating thousands of jobs on any govt land other than this 400-acre forest cover, which has rich flora and fauna, including protected species like peacocks, . Even the previous BRS govt gave away 200 acres of university land to govt employees, which is being condemned by us even now," a member of the civil society organisation, who attended the meeting, said."Meenakshi Natarajan told us that she would speak to the state govt and, if needed, will take the issue to the notice of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. She told us that she has always been at the forefront of fighting for environmental protection and the rights of the poor. We were told that even she was not allowed to visit the 400-acre site, with police stating the issue is in the court," the member added.Members from National Alliance for Peoples' Movement, Human Rights Forum, Rythu Swarajya Vedika, environmentalists, among others, in all nearly 50 members, attended the meeting.On their part, the students of the university demanded that Meenakshi Natarajan immediately speak to the state govt and ensure that they, along with experts, researchers, and faculty, were allowed into the 400-acre land to assess the damage done to the environment.The university professors reportedly told Meenakshi Natarajan that the Congress' 2023 election manifesto had a full chapter on the environment and that the party should abide by it and should not disturb anything in the 400-acre land.