The decision was met with strong opposition from the UoH students and activists, with the students' union calling for a protest at the auction site, on Thursday, 13 March.
Published Mar 13, 2025 | 12:47 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 13, 2025 | 5:51 PM
Mushroom rock at UoH. (University of Hyderabad/ Facebook)
Synopsis: The Telangana government proposed to auction 400 acres of University of Hyderabad land, sparking strong opposition from students and activists. They condemned the move as a threat to education, biodiversity, and public welfare, criticizing the government’s privatization efforts. The Students’ Union demanded the auction’s cancellation, calling it a betrayal of public education and an attack on ecological spaces.
Telangana government had recently proposed to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli village in Ranga Reddy district through the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC). The corporation is set to hold the auction by 15 March, with the estimated value of the land being ₹10,000 crore
The land, which originally belonged to the University of Hyderabad, is also an ecologically sensitive zone.
The decision was met with strong opposition from the UoH students and activists, with the students’ union calling for a protest at the auction site, on Thursday, 13 March, with the slogan “Bachao Mushroom Rock”— a historic rock formation which is also under threat due to the land auction.
Noting that the Congress government’s call is a direct threat to environmental conservation and biodiversity, the Students Federation of India UoH unit claimed, “The University of Hyderabad boasts a vast campus teeming with biodiversity, including lakes, rock formations, and rich flora and fauna. It is home to over 734 flowering plants, 10 mammal species, 15 reptile species, 220 bird species, and countless insects. The forest cover on the campus plays a crucial role in combating climate change and pollution. ”
The Students’ Union noted, “The Students’ Union 2024-25 strongly condemns the Telangana government’s decision to auction 400 acres of Hyderabad Central University land. This land, which includes the Mushroom Rock area on the university’s east campus, holds immense academic, environmental, and cultural significance.”
“The Congress-led Telangana government’s move to appropriate this land for private interests is nothing less than a betrayal of public education and environmental preservation. Its insistence on proceeding with this plan reflects its disregard for the needs of students, researchers, and the broader community”
Further criticising the move, the statement read: ” While the government claims this is a step toward revenue generation and infrastructure development, the ecological importance of the land has been overlooked. The so-called sustainable master plan proposed by the TSIIC may promise parks, walkways, and eco-parks, but these efforts serve corporate interests at the cost of public welfare.”
Recalling the long history of the land, which was allotted to the University in 1974 by the then Andhra Pradesh government for academic and research purposes, the statement noted, “The legal dispute regarding the land lasted for years, with the Telangana High Court recently ruling in favour of the government, permitting the auction of the land. This verdict disregards the land’s original purpose and the environmental cost that will follow its commercialization.”
The statement further called out the Congress government for encouraging privatisation in Telangana, while positioning itself as an opponent of Modi’s privatization policies at the Centre, The Congress-led Telangana government’s decision to auction university land mirrors the very corporate appeasement and privatization drives that they claim to oppose when it comes from the BJP government. This exposes the party’s double standards—opposing the selling out of public goods in the Centre while facilitating the same in Telangana.”
The union also criticised the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the Congress’s student wing, for remaining silent on this blatant attack on public education and university spaces.
“While they continue to claim solidarity with students in their rhetoric, they conveniently refuse to confront their parent organization’s role in looting university land. NSUI must be held accountable for what the Congress government in Telangana is doing. Their silence reflects complicity, and students should not be deceived by their opportunistic presence in university spaces,” the statement read.
Noting that this is not just a matter of land, but a larger battle against the systemic erosion of public education and ecological spaces, The union called upon the civil society to stand firm and resist this land grab. “Our struggle is not only against the Telangana government’s theft but also against the larger trend of privatization of public resources by the BJP at the Centre or the Congress in Telangana. Silence is not an option when our future is being sold off.”
Demanding immediate cancellation of this auction, the union reiterated, “We believe this decision threatens not just HCU but sets a dangerous precedent for the future of all public institutions and ecological spaces.”
