Moosapet land to be resumed

HYDERABAD: The Municipal Administration Urban Development (MAUD) Department has issued directions to Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to resume the land measuring over 24 acres near Moosapet. The land was leased to DLF-Building India Ltd, in which the absconding builder Gowri Shankar Gupta had reportedly claimed to be a partner. The present market value of the land is said to be around Rs 400 cr.Senior MAUD officials confirmed to Express that the department issued directions to HMDA to resume the land as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the HMDA before resuming the land, has started taking legal opinion and probably the land would be taken over on Monday.“We could have resumed the land two days before itself but we wanted to be careful and take legal opinion so that there should not be a problem cropping up in future” MAUD officials said.Gupta has caused a loss of Rs 15 to 20 crore to HMDA by not paying the lease amount despite slapping several notices issued by HMDA. A few days ago, Tourism department had resumed prime land worth Rs 300 crore of Gandhi Medical College at Basheerbagh after terminating the lease agreement with GSG constructions, owned by Gupta and others.Speaking to Express, HMDA officials said that GS Gupta’s SBPL Infrastructure Ltd floated a joint venture with DLF to develop Integrated Mega Agriculture Hub near Moosapet on about 24 acres of land belonging to HMDA which would have been taken on lease.But the company had neither paid the monthly lease of Rs 1 crore to HMDA, nor begun work on the project till date.