Hyderabad: With nearly a dozen Central Public Sector Undertakings not fully utilizing huge tracts of land allotted to them by the state government over the past decades, and with the present government keen on resuming those lands in question, Telangana IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu on Wednesday requested the Union Government to take proactive steps to resolve long-pending issues related to land allotted to Central Public Sector Units (CPSUs) and protect the state’s interests.

Sridhar Babu met with Union Minister for Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum on the unused lands of the CPSUs in the state.

The Minister briefed the Union Minister about the several tracts of prime land allotted to CPSEs by the then Andhra Pradesh government during the 1960s for industrial development and employment generation.

These included: Hindustan Cables Ltd. – 324.87 acres, Hindustan Fluorocarbons Ltd (126.33 acres), IDPL (Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd- 551.03 acres), HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools – 888.05 acres), Cement Corporation of India ( 2,272.85 acres) and Ordnance Factory - 3,020 acres, among others.

Sridhar Babu expressed the state government’s concern that several of these enterprises had either shut down or ceased production, rendering the allotted lands idle and unproductive. He brought to the attention of the Union Minister that attempts were reportedly underway to divert these lands for commercial use by transferring them to private entities without fair compensation or due consultation with the State.

"This poses a serious loss to the State exchequer and undermines public interest," he said, while requesting Kumaraswamy’s active intervention to formulate clear, uniform guidelines on the optimal utilization of such lands, while safeguarding states’ interests and ensuring they are used for public or developmental purposes.

In a quick response, Union Minister Kumaraswamy assured that the matter would be examined with due priority and that a high-level meeting would be convened shortly to arrive at a comprehensive resolution.

The erstwhile state govt previously allotted 12,253 acres to 11 central PSUs, with about 3,600 acres currently being used.

Initially identified for auction as part of resource mobilisation, the govt is now considering resuming the land, according to reports.