Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has alleged that the defence ministry has encroached over 900 acres of state government land in the city and fenced it illegally.

It has decided to write to the defence ministry asking for the land to be handed back and is also exploring legal options. The tussle between the Telangana government and the defence ministry is not new. It started after CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao decided to hold the first Independence Day celebrations of TS at Golconda Fort in August 2014.

Revenue officials, who visited the fort, faced resistance from defence personnel who claimed ownership of the Golconda land. Officials said that as per records, the defence ministry has 3,000 acres of land, but in their survey they found that the ministry has possession of 3,940 acres.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ordered a special survey of defence lands in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts in May to determine the ownership of the lands and identify unused defence lands which could be used for civilian purposes.

“The defence ministry should have only 3,000 acre in the city as per revenue records. But our survey found that it was in possession of 3,940 acre, which shows that it has encroached on 940 acre and fenced it illegally. We have submitted a report to the state government regarding these encroachments mandal-wise,” said a revenue department official.

TRS MPs are also planning to take up the issue in the ongoing session of Parliament.

“After bifurcation of the HC, the issues of Begumpet airport land and defence land remains our topmost priority in the ongoing Parliament session. We are trying to raise these issues in the Lok Sabha,” said TRS deputy floor leader in Lok Sabha B. Vinod Kumar.

Telangana government’s special representative in New Delhi S. Venugopala Chary said, “There is no question of leaving Begumpet airport land to defence ministry. It was gifted by the Nizam for the airport and belongs to Telangana.”

After the airport was shifted to Shamshabad, those lands were automatically transferred to the Telangana state government. The same is the case with lands encroached by the defence ministry in Hyderabad. The TS government has all rights to take over these encroached lands."