(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Hyderabad police on Tuesday detained Payal Shankar, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Telangana, as he stepped out of the MLA Quarters in Hyderabad to visit Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and the disputed 400 acres of land.

Shankar came down heavily on the Congress-led State Government over a land dispute related to the alleged sale of 400 acres of land under the University of Hyderabad in the city's Gachibowli area.

Also Read: University of Hyderabad students' protest: Nearly 50 detained, girls 'forcibly taken away' over land auction |10 updates

BJP ML noted that despite the land being owned by the government, it doesn't have the“power” to sell it and called for the withdrawal of the "thought" of selling the area.

"That 400 acres of land belongs to the government, but that doesn't mean the government has the power to sell it. Today, students and environmentalists are demanding 400 acres for the university, but why is the government not listening to them? The government can bring money from wherever it wants, but it cannot generate another land adjacent to the university. They should withdraw their thoughts of selling that 400 acres of land," the BJP MLA.

The government can bring money from wherever it wants, but it cannot generate another land adjacent to the university.

Earlier on Monday, the University of Hyderabad issued a statement refuting the claims regarding the land demarcation survey on its campus in July 2024.

In an official statement, the university clarified that it had neither agreed to nor been informed about any such survey for demarcating 400 acres of land. The administration dismissed the allegations as unfounded.

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