The agitating students of University of Hyderabad (UoH, popularly known as Hyderabad Central University, HCU) demanded AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan to ensure that they, along with expert faculty and researchers, get access to the contentious 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli on Sunday, April 6, itself to assess the damage done to the environment.
The students put forth this demand in order to submit a report to the committee that would visit the contentious land as directed by the Supreme Court, according to the report by The New Indian Express.
For the second consecutive day, Natarajan held deliberations over contentious 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli land with the stakeholders of University of Hyderabad (UoH), including varsity's students' union, teachers association and civil society organisations at Gachibowli Stadium that abutts the university.
Natarajan patiently listened to the contentions raised by the stakeholders and civil society organisations.
Later speaking to The New Indian Express, UoH Students Union president Arepalle Umesh Chand Ambedkar, a PhD scholar in management studies, said: "Meenakshi Natarajan ji has assured a positive response from the government."
He said that they have put forward their demands such as release of arrested students, revoking police cases and withdrawal of police force from the campus.
"A large number of police personnel have been deployed at East Campus, which houses the School of Mathematics and Statistics, School of Economics and School of Management Studies. Police are checking the ID cards of students who are attending the classes. It is not a common practice to carry ID cards inside the campus," he said.
In response to the state government's argument that AI-based content was circulating on social media, the university students provided visuals that displayed the destruction of flora and fauna, and the recent stray dog attack on a fawn.
The university teachers sought to remind Natarajan that Congress Lok Sabha Elections Manifesto 2025 - Nyay Patra - has a chapter on environment with claims of its "profound commitment to rapid, inclusive and sustainable development, and to protect its ecosystems, local communities, flora and fauna."
The civil society organisations said that regardless of the ownership, there should not be any disturbance to the flora and fauna in the region under the garb of development. Recently, the state government started the works of clearing the shrubs and trees in the 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli using large number of JCBs, which was vehemently opposed by students. The government reportedly stopped the works following the intervention of Supreme Court, as per the report by The New Indian Express.
