Hyderabad: Student community in University of Hyderabad alleged "illegal encroachment of University's forest land grabbing by Telangana state government". Students Union and All India OBC Students Association(AIOBCSA) in University condemned the act of state government and held protest on January 8.
Around 11 protestors were arrested and detained by police and later got released.
"Hyderabad University is known for its bio diversity and acts as lungs for the entire city. The campus premise is home for around 150 bird species,15 reptiles and more than 10 mammals. Usurping such spaces for personal gains will negatively impact the ecology" a statement by Students Union reads.
However, this is not for the first-time students demanding to prevent land encroachment.
Sources told Madhyamam that "the encroachment activities are carrying out over the last years there have been some incidents of attempts of illegal invading and construction in University land".
They said University administration is failing to take a proper action against the illegal attempts by the occupants.The students alleged that the authorities demolished 100 feet of the compound wall near the Indian School of Business to build the road.
Hyderabad University is reportedly an archaeological megalithic site, around 315 species were used in Indian traditional medicine. Among that 39 species of plants belong to the group that faces extinction.
In 2017, a visiting team under Chief Conservator of Forest advised the University authorities to fortify the compound wall by using concertina wires to prevent outsiders from the walls.
Sources said that in the year 2018, forest department had sent letter to chief conservator of forest by sketching out 500 acres of land in University can be maintained as 'conservative zone'. Students pointed out the administration's failure in installing proper security measures like fences and boundary walls.
University wall was said to be demolished on February 2020 as per the order of collector citing an order to construct road within University campus to CNG colony. Students said the government under Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) made the last attempt of grabbing the forest land of University on 21st October previous year.
Student organizations demand to revoke all the under-developmental activities that cause irreversible damage to ecology inside the campus premise.
University is also going on tensions of reservation violation, and exclusion of OBCs, ST/SC from PhD, MPhil seats.