Hyderabad: The government of Andhra Pradesh took back the 20 acres of encroached land from the possession of (GITAM) Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management in the city.
A revenue department official said to IANS that, “GITAM has encroached upon 40 acres of government land. So far, we have retrieved 20 acres of that land.”
Police officers and Revenue officials arrived at the GITAM campus on Saturday morning with a JCB vehicle and demolished the compound wall standing on the retrieved land.
He stated, “No building was destroyed, only the compound wall was demolished and vacant encroached land has been taken over. We set up a barrier until where we retrieved it. Currently, the work is going on.”
As per the official, there was resistance from the college management, but the revenue department officials managed to convince the GITAM officials that the land had been under encroachment for a very long time.
He brought up that they convinced them and took back their (government) land.
Though the land may have encroached earlier, he said the revenue department first noticed that the land was in illegal occupation in 2014.
The revenue official noted, “Five months back we came here, surveyed and showed the management where they had encroached the land. We have also done a clear cut marking. They are aware of what is happening and we informed them earlier.”
However, other than oral instructions, no noticed was issued to the management of the college.
In 1980, GITAM was set up by M.V.V.S. Murthi who died in a road accident in 2018 in Alaska. Murthi, a (TDP) senior Telugu Desam Party leader, was elected to the Lok Sabha two times (in 1991 and in 1999).
Starting from schools to post-graduate courses, the GITAM group of institutions has expanded largely with large campuses in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru.
As of now, Murthi’s grandson M. Sri Bharat is running GITAM. Bharat is wedded to the youngest daughter of Hindupur TDP MLA.
In the 2019 General Elections, Bharat unsuccessfully contested the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat.
source: with input from ians
