Students lathicharged for protesting against felling of forest in Hyderabad University

HYDERABAD: The students holding protests against the felling of forest located in Hyderabad Central University campus were lathicharged on Wednesday morning. The police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesting students demonstrating against the actions of the Telangana government.

Amid ongoing chaos over 400 acres land dispute surrounding Hyderabad Central University, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha on Wednesday suggested the state government should use land which was not adjacent to the university, to create infrastructure for software companies or other industries. She said that the Congress government’s bulldozing of HCU’s land reveals a “disregard” for the environment and academic sanctity.

The situation at Hyderabad Central University is no less than an emergency.
lathi charge on students is an utter disgrace.

We strongly condemn the lathi charge against students and the professors who supported them. #CongressFailedTelangana#SaveHCUBioDiversity #SaveHCU pic.twitter.com/iRwSESBBXf

— Bala kumar Ugadi (@BalaUgadi) April 2, 2025

“If the Congress administration truly seeks land for infrastructure development, it should utilise the 397 acres previously allocated to Hyderabad Central University, compensating the 400 acres. Instead, it is targeting HCU’s 2,500-acre campus, threatening its rich biodiversity and peaceful academic environment. Hyderabad already has ample land for development, and bulldozing HCU land only reveals Congress’s disregard for environmental preservation and academic sanctity,” Kavitha said.

“If the government wants to create infrastructure for software companies or other industries, why don’t you use the remaining 397 acres of land not adjacent to the university land? Now, the issue here is that this 400 acres of land is adjacent to the university. You cannot spoil the atmosphere of the university”, the BRS MLC said.

Dismissing the allegations levelled against BRS for favouring Rameshwar Rao, founder-chairman of My Home Group, Kavitha said that the state government lacks the courage to investigate the matter. Instead, she added, Congress was focused on disrupting HCU, punishing the poor and vulnerable while shielding the powerful.

Despite a court ruling in favour of the university in a 25-year-long legal battle for the land, Kavitha said that the Congress government was manipulating the outcome to claim the land as the government’s property.

“The Congress government in Telangana is making a brazen attempt to seize the University of Hyderabad (HCU) land, despite a clear court verdict affirming that the land rightfully belongs to the university. This land, originally given by Indira Gandhi and protected by the BRS, has been the centre of a prolonged legal battle for 25 years. The court has now ruled in favour of HCU, yet the Congress government is manipulating the outcome to claim that the land belongs to the government, not the university,” she added.

Earlier, BRS working president KT Rama Rao slammed the Congress government in Telangana for reportedly detaining a journalist covering student protests at Hyderabad University, saying that the “blatant suppression” of free speech and expression was “unacceptable”.

KTR took a dig at the Congress leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, over the detention of the journalist and said that he goes to “town preaching about democracy and free speech”.

The students were protesting against the felling of the forest on the university campus and the auction of 400 acres of land. (ANI)