Land auction: Hyderabad Central University students launch indefinite protest, demand removal of police from campus

Hyderabad: Students at Hyderabad Central University (HCU) have launched an indefinite protest at the administration building, demanding the removal of police forces and excavation equipment from campus grounds. Tensions continued to escalate on Tuesday as demonstrations spread across the university.

The protests, now in their third day, oppose the Revanth Reddy government's decision to auction approximately 400 acres of land adjacent to the HCU campus in Kancha Gachibowli.

The controversy has gained political momentum, with Opposition parties joining the chorus in urging the Telangana government to abandon its proposal to develop the ecologically sensitive land.

BRS working president K T Rama Rao criticised the Congress government's decision, calling it "mindless" and arguing it would deprive Hyderabad of a vital lung space.

He contradicted Chief Minister Reddy's assembly statement claiming the area lacked wildlife, noting that according to students and faculty, the campus hosts over 700 species of flowering plants, 10 species of mammals, 15 species of reptiles, and more than 200 bird species, along with billion-year-old rock formations.

KTR urged the government to "immediately halt this reckless destruction" of natural habitat for commercial development.

The BJP has also condemned the move. State BJP chief spokesperson N V Subash questioned, "Since when did the government become a real estate dealer?"

Supporting the students' protests, he criticised the police response as "an unacceptable assault on democratic rights". Subash noted that in 2007-08, a similar attempt was made by the Congress government to transfer the land to a Delhi-based developer - a proposal that Reddy, then a TDP leader, had opposed.

"What changed now? Is the Chief Minister abandoning his past stance just to fill empty coffers, please the Gandhis, and fund their freebies agenda?" Subash asked.