SBI team calls on Telangana Chief Secretary amid Raidurgam Knowledge City land controversy

The State Bank of India (SBI) appears to have initiated steps to pacify the Telangana government over the controversy that arose due to a disputed land parcel.

A delegation of the SBI senior representatives, led by an officer of the rank of Chief General Manager, called on Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao at the Secretariat on Monday. Though details of what transpired in the 30-minute meeting is yet to be known, the deliberations focused on the 5.09-acre land parcel in Raidurgam Knowledge City that has become a bone of contention between the two sides.

While the government put up the land parcel for auction, the SBI challenged the decision in the High Court, leading to a controversy.

The State government led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy took a serious note of the SBI’s action in taking to legal recourse and has been exploring various options including withdrawal of government’s transactions from the largest public sector bank. Sensing the scope for the issue to flare up into a major controversy, the SBI delegation called on the Chief Secretary and held discussions on the issue. The Chief Secretary is understood to have conveyed the government’s stand in no uncertain terms to the SBI delegation.

Interestingly, the Chief Secretary left for New Delhi to join the Chief Minister in representing the State’s case to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior officials. The State government is upset over the development as it has reportedly offered another piece of land to the public sector bank but the bank preferred to take legal recourse.