Kancha Gachibowli: Mass deforestation near Hyderabad University, peacocks ‘cry’, SC intervenes — All you need to know

One must have encountered a viral video where a group of peacocks could be heard crying. The video caused outrage among the netizens Many shared the video on social media, claiming that bulldozers razed trees spread across 400 acres of land in Telangana's Kancha Gachibowli forest area near the Hyderabad Central University campus.

As the matter came to light, several students of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) launched a protest. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance of the felling of trees at a forest area in Kancha Gachibowli. The issue was also raised in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

What's the controversy about?

The row involving Kancha Gachibowli can be traced to 2003 under former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure.

Recently, several reports claimed 400 acres of land near the Kancha Gachibowli area in Hyderabad was razed to set up an IT park. According to PTI, the Telangana government's plans to develop IT infrastructure and others on 400 acres of land at Kancha Gachibowli.

A UoHSU leader was quoted by news agency PTI as saying that the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited recently announced the auction of 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli.

The UoHSU leader said this would lead to the loss of university land as well as the biodiversity of Hyderabad.

Mint could not independently verify these claims.

The land reportedly includes the Mushroom Rock area within the University of Hyderabad, near its East Campus.

Land ownership: 'Not forest land'

The Congress-led Telangana government maintains that the land is not notified as forest land and is, in fact, revenue land.

As per PTI, the government says that the land parcel belonged to it and not the varsity. However, the UoH Registrar issued a statement asserting that the boundary of the disputed land in question was finalised, contradicting the government's claim.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) said earlier this week that it had proved its ownership of the land in court and that the UoH (a Central university) does not own any land in the land parcel in question.

"Disputes, if any, created on the ownership of land, will be a contempt of the court," it said, adding that the revenue records clearly state that the land is not forest land, it said.

Is it university land or govt land?

Another major issues is the demarcation between Kancha Gachibowli and the Hyderabad University.

What Telangana govt says

The TGIIC said that with the consent of the University of Hyderabad Registrar, a survey of the land was conducted in July 2024 in the presence of the university officials for identification of boundaries.

"The officials finalized the boundaries on the same day," the TGIIC said, as per PTI.

As per the News Minute, the government noted that revenue authorities and TGIIC had ensured that revenue officials in the presence of UoH authorities carried out a survey to ensure that not one inch of university land was touched.

UoH’s response

However, the UoH said no survey was conducted in July 2024 by the revenue authorities in the campus to demarcate the 400 acres of land resumed by the state government in 2006.

"The only action taken thus far has been a preliminary inspection of the land's topography," UoH Registrar Devesh Nigam said in a statement.

The university also denied the government statement that it has agreed for such demarcation of the land. The Registrar said they had requested the state government to clearly demarcate the land belonging to the university and also conserve the biodiversity in the disputed area.

Countering the university's claims, official sources told PTI that there are documents which show that the land in question in Kancha Gachibowli has been handed over to the state government in 2004.

UoH claims that in 1975, the united Andhra Pradesh government allotted 2,324 acres to them, but the Telangana High Court noted in 2022 that no official documentation exists to confirm this transfer.

The ‘Kancha’ in Kancha Gachibowli refers to ‘unproductive land’, which the state argues is revenue land as per the earliest records, the News Minute reported.

Students protest

The University of Hyderabad Students’ Union had staged a protest in March after noticing deployment of police and earthmovers at the land, following which over 50 students were detained and released later.

According to police, when the TGIIC initiated development work at the site on March 30, as per a Government Order, a group of people from UoH and also others gathered at the site and tried to stop the work "forcibly". They "attacked" the officials and workers with sticks and stones and two persons were arrested in this connection.

Protest erupts: What do protesters demand?

The protesting students demanded a written assurance that the land would be formally registered under the university.

The University students demanded the Telangana government to stop the reported auction. They demanded withdrawal of the police personnel from the campus and removal of earth-moving machinery. The students also condemned the "brutal police crackdown" on peaceful demonstrators.

The University of Hyderabad Students' Union and other unions and associated parties launched an indefinite protest and announced a boycott of classes from April 1. They are opposing the proposal to undertake development at the land parcel on the grounds of environmental conservation.

In a joint statement, the UoHSU and other students' associations accused the university administration of "betraying" students by facilitating land clearing activities for the state government on 400 acres at Kancha Gachibowli abutting the university.

Eighteen-year-old Boveni Yugendar, a first-year IMA Hindi student at the University of Hyderabad, also begun a hunger strike at the university’s main gate—to protest against the alleged destruction of forest cover at Kancha Gachibowli, South First reported.

Politicians, celebs react

Rajya Sabha MP Ravi Chandra Vaddiraji raised the issue in the upper house on Thursday. He alleged that the land was cleared using a "JCB" at night. He said the environment ministry has been given a “factual” report and issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of State.

Meanwhile, BJP's Bengaluru MP also raised the issued in the Lok Sabha. He posted a video from his speech on X early Friday and captioned it as, "The environmental crimes of Congress in Karnataka and Telangana come at the cost of permanent damage to the ecology and biodiversity at Bandipura and Kancha Gachibowli..."

Bollywood actor Dia Mirza also voiced the concern, saying, “Students are raising their voices for a future where nature thrives. Forests, not IT parks, offer young people a chance at a sustainable tomorrow. ‘Development' at the cost of biodiversity is DESTRUCTION. Save Kancha Forest in Gachibowli, Hyderabad.”

Court cases

Currently, there are two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against the state government in the Telangana High Court. The first PIL was filed by the NGO Vata Foundation, requesting the High Court to declare transfer of land to the TGIIC as ‘arbitrary and illegal’.

The second PIL filed by retired Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) scientist Babu Rao Kalpala sought the court to declare the state’s action of razing 400 acres of forest land issued by the Revenue Department as unlawful and a violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the News Minute reported.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered to stop all sorts of developmental activities carried out in the Kancha Gachibowli area in Hyderabad, expressing shock at the large-scale felling of trees in hundreds of acres of land there.

Taking suo moto cognizance of the felling of trees, the Supreme Court stayed felling of trees at the site and warned Chief Secretary of consequences of its order is not complied with.

The Chief Secretary of State was directed to ensure no felling takes place till further orders.

Meanwhile, the Telangana High Court on Thursday, April 3, adjourned the Kancha Gachibowli tree-felling case to April 7, granting an extension to the interim order already in place.