TRS MPs seek PM Modi’s nod for defence land

​New Delhi: A delegation of TRS MPs, led by their Parliamentary leader A P Jitender Reddy, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday seeking his intervention in the transfer of defence land for the construction of Telangana Secretariat building and the Strategic Road Development Project.

Earlier, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had agreed to give the defence land for the Secretariat in Bison ground and land for the Strategic Road Development Project in exchange of 596 acres of the government land and an amount Rs 95 crore as an additional cost.

A letter was written by the Defence Minister to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in August 2017 communicating in principle the approval for the same, the MPs said, adding that a condition was put that every year Rs 31 crore will have to be paid by the state government to the cantonment for presumptive loss of annual revenue. The CM had requested the Defence Minister to waive it off as land of similar value was being given in exchange. 

They said the Centre had released Rs 2,000 crore for the AP secretariat while all that Telangana was asking for is transfer of the land for an exchange. Seeking the Presidential order for local zones in employment, the MPs told the PM that new districts were created in Telangana and the state now had 31 districts.