The Public Accounts Committee Chairman Payyavula Keshav on Tuesday demanded that the State government take immediate steps to protect the 10,000 acres of public land (8,844 acres in Sri Sathya Sai district in A.P. and 250 acres in Shamshabad in Telangana) that was taken by the Indu Projects Group in the name of developing the Lepakshi Knowledge Hub during former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Keshav told the media that he had written to the State government in February to take back the lands allocated to Indu Projects and approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), where the banks, that had lent Rs.4,500 core to Indu Projects for developing the Knowledge Hub, were auctioning the lands to recover their money.
The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government did not show interest in getting its lands back as those bidding for the lands were the Chief Minister’s close friends, he alleged. About Rs.10,000 crore worth of property was now settled in the NCLT in Hyderabad for Rs.500 core since the government did not put forth its arguments there, he alleged.
“When the lands had to be auctioned, the banks too did not show interest in recovering their loans to Indu Projects Group and only three parties came forward to bid for the lands and they too are connected to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy,” he alleged, and asked why the State government did not approach the Centre to protect its public interest or safeguard the lands that were acquired paying only Rs.2 lakh an acre while the present value was Rs.1 crore an acre.
“Farmers have given their land hoping that large-scale investments will be made in the Lepakshi Knowledge Hub along NH-44, just 60 km from the Bengaluru Airport, and that hundreds of job will be created. But the farmers have been cheated,” he added.
