Litigation may delay IT park at Budwel

The IT park proposed by the State government at Budwel near Rajendranagar is likely to be delayed owing to legal issues concerning with one part of the land parcel.

About eight acres of land is in dispute as some persons have approached court claiming ownership. “Unless we get legal possession of the entire land, the government will not initiate operations. Right now, we are focussed on resolving the court cases,” a senior official said.

He added that 55 IT companies have come forward to establish units, of which 40 have been found eligible. The size of the investments would be known only after the agreements are signed, but the government aims to create employment for one lakh people.

The government has proposed to develop Budwel as a major IT hub since the existing ones at Madhapur and Gachibowli are saturated. Budwel is a half-an-hour drive from Shamshabad airport and the land value there went up sharply following the announcement of the IT park. The State government took Budwel project seriously after it was convinced that the BJP-led NDA government had decided to shelve the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) sanctioned for Hyderabad by the previous UPA government. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had harped on ITIR as a boost to Telangana in all his public meetings prior to assuming power.

When the government began searching for large chunks of land for IT parks, it identified Budwel and Miyapur as possible locations, but most of the land at the latter site is under litigation. Given this, it finalised Budwel, also because of the added advantage of its proximity to the airport and the outer ring road. Since the land parcels at Budwel were allotted to various government agencies and they remained unutilised, it was decided that they would be acquired for the IT park. The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation was mandated to lay the roads and create other infrastructure.