Hyderabad: In a bid to break the deadlock with State Bank of India (SBI) over the Raidurg land parcel, the Telangana govt has offered prime alternate sites at three locations, hoping to end a protracted tussle that has already reached the courts.SBI officials recently inspected the proposed sites and indicated that they would revert after consulting the bank’s headquarters.Officials said SBI has been pressing for five acres in Raidurg, where land auctioned by the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) recently fetched a record Rs 237 crore per acre.To resolve the issue, the state govt offered two alternative parcels of 2.5 acres each — one near Plot No. 18 in Raidurg Knowledge City and another at Osman Nagar, close to the Outer Ring Road — and asked SBI to choose one of the two sites. While land in Raidurg currently commands Rs 160-200 crore per acre in the market, land in Osman Nagar is valued at around Rs 40-45 crore per acre.“In the third option, the govt has offered 10 to 15 acres in Bharat Future City in lieu of the five-acre land parcel in Raidurg. SBI intends to utilise the land for setting up a data centre or other major facilities. The bank’s officials visited the site, apart from inspecting the land in Osman Nagar, and informed us that they would place the proposal before their higher authorities, as it requires approval from the SBI board,” a senior official in the chief minister’s office told TOI.Officials pointed out that land in Future City is considerably cheaper than that in Raidurg. SBI had originally secured five acres in Survey No. 83/1 at a concessional rate of Rs 13.30 crore per acre in Aug 2010 for setting up its corporate office. However, TGIIC cancelled the allotment in Jan 2021, and resumption proceedings were completed the following month.Interestingly, sources said SBI had initially shown willingness to accept alternate land. On May 4, two days before TGIIC issued the e-auction notification for the Raidurg parcel, the corporation’s vice-chairman met SBI officials. Subsequently, the bank’s representatives inspected alternative sites on May 12.However, following the pre-bid meeting, SBI filed a house motion on May 19 seeking to stall the auction. A day before the e-auction, the bank formally rejected the govt’s proposal for alternate land.Now, following fresh meetings with the chief secretary, SBI is reportedly reconsidering the govt’s offer.Chief minister A Revanth Reddy, however, is learnt to have expressed displeasure over the manner in which the issue was handled. He reportedly felt that senior officials should have engaged with SBI at the outset before the matter escalated to the high court and resulted in a stay on the auction process.
