Large swathes of greenery erased in Hyderabad’s Kancha Gachibowli auction site

Telangana government proceeds with auctioning land in Kancha Gachibowli despite protests, sparking environmental concerns and opposition.

Notwithstanding petitions, protests and public appeals against the measure, the Telangana government is forging ahead with its decision to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli through the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC).

Eyewitnesses report that large swathes of vegetation inside the secluded area near the Mushroom Rock have been cleared already, using heavy machinery.

“I have seen them working for the past four to five days. They have cleared up to 100 acres of forested area, and levelling up the land using bulldozers. And they have dug up a huge pit where they are throwing the chopped trees,” said Akshay Deshpande, a volunteer with the Save City Forest collective which has been opposing the move on the environmental grounds.

Satellite images of the location show that the clearing of trees had begun much before the auction announcement. Google Earth images from November, 2024 clearly show a large patch shorn of greenery, as compared to the image from 2020.

A statement from the Save City Forest on Saturday, made an appeal to the government to withdraw the auction, stop tree felling, and declare the Kancha Gachibowli as a protected area in view of the biodiversity and wildlife flourishing at the location. It has also demanded a biodiversity impact assessment to be carried in the area.

The statement has come on the heels of an unofficial news plant displaying neither name nor department, which dismissed the reports that the site of the proposed auction belonged to the University of Hyderabad.

It is a government land, as confirmed by the Revenue authorities, and cleared by the UoH Registrar for carrying out the survey work, it said, sidestepping the wildlife aspect of the issue.