Several students from the University of Hyderabad were detained by the Cyberabad police on Sunday afternoon after they protested against the clearing of land in Kancha Gachibowli. The Telangana government plans to auction this 400-acre land to build IT parks and other infrastructure.
According to students, eight bulldozers were used for clearing the land, and police were heavily deployed. Upon hearing this, many students rushed to the site, raising slogans against the government. The students are opposing the auction as they believe it will harm the biodiversity and ecosystem of the area.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner Avinash Mohanty stated that around 50 students were taken into preventive custody. “They were creating a disturbance and obstructing government officials from working. Some even assaulted the police, and we may file cases against them,” he said.
Kancha Gachibowli is in the center of Hyderabad’s IT hub. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy claimed in the Assembly that these protests were politically motivated. He dismissed concerns about the land’s environment, saying, “There are no tigers or deer there, only some cunning people trying to stop development.” He also accused the Opposition of provoking student protests and filing court cases to delay the project.
IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu clarified in the Assembly that the land does not belong to the university and is fully owned by the government.
Students, however, alleged that the police used force, pushed them into police vans, and took them to unknown locations. “At least 100 students were detained. We were protesting peacefully inside our campus, but police used violence, even against female students,” said one protester. The detained students were taken to Raidurg and Madhapur police stations.
After the detentions, more students gathered at the university’s main gate to continue their protest.
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One student said, “We burned an effigy of Revanth Reddy yesterday, and now the authorities are rushing to clear the land. They didn’t even wait for the land survey or the next court hearing on April 7 to decide if Kancha Gachibowli should be declared a national park.”
Student union vice-president Akash Kumar from the Ambedkar Students Association stated, “The government claims ownership, but no proper survey has been done. They just brought in bulldozers and started clearing the land illegally. Police used force, lathi-charged us, and locked the university gates from outside to prevent media interaction.”
The protests are expected to continue as students demand the preservation of Kancha Gachibowli’s ecosystem.
