Hyderabad’s Green Massacre: The Telangana Government’s Silent War on Forests and Accountability
In the dead of Hyderabad’s sweltering March, the chainsaws roared louder than public dissent, clearing nearly 400 acres of green cover in Kancha Gachibowli. What was once a haven for peacocks and deer is now reduced to soil scraped bare—thanks to the Telangana government’s covert operation to build yet another “IT park.” But beneath the pretense of development lies a murky swamp of concealed decisions, political greed, and potential corruption, helmed by none other than the new Congress-led dispensation under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
This is not just an environmental issue. It is a masterclass in how democratic institutions are bypassed with surgical precision when profit is the only policy. The move was swift, unannounced, and utterly opaque—no public consultations, no environmental impact assessments, no transparency. Just bulldozers tearing through the lungs of the city while the public slept.
And who were the three key architects of this “visionary” destruction? Let’s name them.
D. Sridhar Babu, Minister for IT and Industries, who carries the stain of a controversial FIR for election-related misconduct. Though the court stayed proceedings, his casual proximity to scandal makes one wonder what else might be brushed under the legal carpet.
Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, the Deputy Chief Minister, who turned a deaf ear to rising protests even as he hurled challenges in the Assembly over “30% commission” accusations. His political theatre is loud; his governance, suspiciously mute.
But the gold medal for conflict of interest clearly goes to Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, the man who might as well be wearing a Raghava Constructions ID badge. His construction firm—allegedly involved in fake guarantees worth ₹4,500 crore—has already caught the ED’s attention in multiple cases. Add a crypto-fueled money laundering racket and his son’s luxury watch purchases via hawala, and you’ve got yourself a poster boy for everything wrong with Telangana’s corridors of power.
If this so-called IT park was truly a public good, why did the government keep it under wraps? Why was there no public consultation? Why were students, environmentalists, and citizens informed only after the trees were down and the damage was done? The only answer is that they knew exactly what they were doing—and they knew the people would never allow it.
And let us not forget the timing. The Supreme Court had only recently cleared the title of the land in favor of the government. By July 2024, the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) had the land in its grasp. By March 2025, tree stumps were all that remained. It takes a special kind of audacity to turn legal victory into ecological catastrophe.
Opposition parties—BRS and BJP—were predictably silent before the razing began, and conveniently loud after. KT Rama Rao has now vowed to turn the deforested land into the “biggest eco-park” if BRS returns in 2028. A noble promise, except for the glaring fact that his party said nothing when the axes first swung.
The question every citizen must ask is: who benefits from the destruction of Kancha Gachibowli’s green sanctuary? Which corporations were promised land in hushed meetings? How much land was already earmarked for real estate or tech companies before the first tree was cut?
This is not governance. This is organized environmental vandalism dressed up as progress. And if we don’t question it now, we will be too late when the next forest falls.
P.S. This investigative op-ed is based solely on publicly available information and credible news reports. It is written without prejudice and stands as a protest against the stealthy deforestation and the opaque practices surrounding it.
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P.S. This is not just an op-ed. It is a scream into the void of institutional decay that has become the norm in Telangana. What happened in Kancha Gachibowli is not a standalone crime—it is a symptom of a political class that has grown immune to shame, addicted to money, and allergic to accountability. From the ruling Congress government to the opportunistic opposition, every single party has failed the people of Hyderabad.
The Congress-led government, headed by Revanth Reddy, executed a covert operation of deforestation in the heart of the city without a whisper to the public. They bulldozed not just trees, but democratic process, public trust, and ecological balance. Their silence before the saws came out and their justifications after the destruction reek of arrogance and guilt. The ministers involved—tainted with allegations, shadowed by corporate affiliations, and drunk on unchecked power—should never again be allowed to speak in the name of public welfare.
And the opposition? Hypocrisy runs deep in their veins. KT Rama Rao and the BRS are now crying foul and offering grand dreams of eco-parks after doing nothing to stop the massacre when they could have. The BJP, always quick to blame but slow to act, joined the party only after the blood of the forest had already soaked the soil.
Even the central environmental bodies—the supposed watchdogs of our ecological future—were asleep at the wheel, waking up only after media outcry forced their hand. What use is a ministry that responds only after the damage is irreversible?
This is a betrayal. A betrayal of Hyderabad’s heritage. A betrayal of its future. A betrayal of every citizen who believes that trees are not just wood but life, history, and belonging.
This is not the time for hashtags. This is the time for resistance. Students, environmentalists, workers, citizens—everyone must rise. Come out onto the streets. Shout their names. Demand accountability. Refuse to let this be forgotten or forgiven. Let Kancha Gachibowli be the line they should have never crossed. And let our anger be the fire that saves what’s left of our green cities.
Never forget this crime. Never forgive the criminals in power. And never stop fighting for the trees they killed in silence.
