Civil society delegation lists six Schedule-I species in Kancha Gachibowli web site in talks with authorities

College students of the College of Hyderabad elevate slogans throughout their protest demanding the removing of police personnel and earth-moving equipment from the campus, in Hyderabad on Tuesday. The scholars are protesting towards the Telangana authorities’s plan to public sale 400 acres of forested land within the Kancha Gachibowli space for the event of IT parks.
| Photograph Credit score: PTI
A delegation comprising civil society members, members of JAC from College of Hyderabad (UoH), environmentalists and activists which met the Telangana Cupboard members on Tuesday delivered to their discover, the existence of six species of fauna listed underneath the Schedule-I of the Wildlife Safety Act, 1972 on the web site of Kancha Gachibowli, the place the federal government seeks to public sale 400 acres of land for IT and combined use improvement.
Indian peafowl, Bengal monitor lizard, Indian rock python, Indian star tortoise, osprey and 4 horned antelope have been the six species listed by the delegation earlier than Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and ministers D.Sridhar Babu and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. Yet another species not talked about within the assembly was Indian flapshell turtle, the delegation members later revealed.
Nevertheless, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests R.M.Dobriyal, who was current on the assembly, pleaded ignorance of the presence of the listed species, and stated the realm has not been categorised as forest, and that the method of identification of deemed forests as per the Godavarman judgement of the Supreme Courtroom had begun only a month in the past in Telangana.
Mr.Sridhar Babu reportedly questioned the delegation why the authorities had not been alerted in regards to the presence of Schedule I species within the campus. Representatives from the Save Metropolis Forest reportedly offered the proof of forest officers being frequenters to the college in circumstances pertaining to poaching and feral canine assaults.
Members additionally raised questions in regards to the violation of the WALTA Act, 2002, which prohibits felling of timber with out permission on the web site, lack of biodiversity evaluation, and absence of any Environmental Affect Evaluation required for the mission.
The delegation led by former professor of UoH and activist G.Haragopal and comprising environmentalist Donthi Narasimha Reddy, activists Kiran Kumar Vissa, Arun Vasireddy and Save Metropolis Forest members Shivani and Anju, amongst others, positioned 4 calls for earlier than the ministers — to withdraw the deployment of dozens of earthmoving equipment instantly from the positioning, revoke all circumstances towards the scholars, overview the public sale proposal and hand over the 400-acre land to the UoH.
Principal Secretary, Land Income, Naveen Mittal defined to the delegation that the land didn’t belong to the UoH, and positioned proof pertaining to the alienation of the land from the college in change for land allocation at one other web site.
Nevertheless, Mr. Haragopal clarified that the present agitation had been launched on ethical grounds and never authorized grounds, because the land parcel was granted means again in Nineteen Seventies when UoH was established as a part of the Six Level Method proposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Although the college had no title for the land, all the two,300-odd acres of land enclosed by the compound wall had come to be thought-about because the UoH land, he talked about. As soon as the allocation to the personal entity was cancelled in 2006, the land ought to have been returned to the college honouring its historical past, he identified. The ministers, whereas not giving assurances on any demand, stated the factors raised by the delegation shall be deliberated upon.
Printed – April 02, 2025 01:37 am IST