Date:15/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/15/stories/2006101504260400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Congress refutes IMG Bharata's contentions

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The Congress Legislature Party has refuted the charge levelled by IMG Bharata that the Government had cancelled the land allotment on `political grounds' and said the decision was taken to protect the people's interests.

Government Chief Whip N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, along with other Congress MLAs, told reporters on Saturday that the contents of the agreement signed with IMG Bharata when the Telugu Desam Party was in power were fully in favour of the company. "Why was the prime land of 400 acres in Gachibowli and 450 acres near Shamshabad airport alienated to the said firm, which had little to do with IMG Worldwide, US?" he asked.

While the value of the land was close to Rs. 4,000 crores in Gachibowli, the TDP Government had given it at Rs. 50,000 per acre to the company that was registered in Hyderabad. He wondered how the TDP Government agreed to the condition that any legal dispute would be decided in a London court.