Hyderabad: In the long-running Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) land dispute, the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) has lodged a police complaint against 10 officials, including officers from IDPL and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), revenue authorities, and a few private individuals, alleging illegal encroachment of 14 acres of prime IDPL land at Balanagar.The land, estimated to be worth about Rs 400 crore, was allegedly encroached upon with the active collusion of certain officials who facilitated private parties through a panchanama, altered revenue records, and failed to prevent the takeover, TGIIC said. IDPL and NIPER officials, including the general manager and estate officials, are accused of not stopping the alleged encroachment.According to the complaint filed by TGIIC zonal manager Anuradha with Balanagar police a few days ago, 14 acres of land was occupied illegally by private parties with the alleged connivance of officials. The state govt had allotted 891 acres to IDPL in the 1960s.After the public sector company was officially shut down in 2003, around 160 acres—50 acres initially and another 110 acres later— were transferred to NIPER. The Medchal Malkajgiri collector resumed the remaining land in 2008 and handed it over to TGIIC.Officials said some private landowners, whose approximately 195 acres of land was acquired decades ago by HMT-Praga Tools Ltd, claimed that the company had taken possession of 17 acres in excess—totalling 212 acres—for which they were never compensated. Seeking the return of this alleged excess land, they approached various courts over the past seven decades.“While the entire land issue and court cases filed by the private parties were about HMT and Praga Tools land in Moosapet, adjacent to IDPL land, many colonies came up on the alleged Praga Tools survey numbers. Some revenue authorities, who worked between 2020 and 2024, including a tahsildar, village revenue officer and surveyor, in Qutubullapur, Kukatpally and Balanagar mandals, helped the private parties to take over the land and made changes in the revenue records,” a senior official of TGIIC told TOI.Passbooks issuedEven passbooks were issued in 2023 for the alleged excess land—classified as non-agricultural—by certain revenue authorities, officials alleged.TGIIC has also flagged suspected tampering of revenue records during the Covid-19 period. One survey and panchanama was reportedly conducted in July 2020, when the country was under pandemic restrictions, followed by another exercise in 2024. “Instead of bringing it to the notice of TGIIC, which is technically the landowner of the entire IDPL land, IDPL and NIPER officials also signed the panchanama papers,” a senior officer alleged.Revenue dept’s claimRevenue authorities countered that while TGIIC claims technical ownership of the land, its zonal manager and officials failed to act when the alleged encroachment first surfaced. They said TGIIC moved only after allegations involving politicians and media reports brought the issue into focus.Meanwhile, the vigilance and enforcement department, which is conducting a parallel probe into the IDPL land encroachment, is expected to submit its report shortly, sources said.
