Snooker facility lands in trouble

AP failed to pay lease amount for 13 yrs

The state-of-the-art snooker facility that was planned on the city’s outskirts to position Hyderabad as a major global destination for snooker and billiards has landed in trouble.

In 2005, the Congress government headed by Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had leased out 1.36 acres of prime land near Hitec City to the Andhra Pradesh Billiards and Snooker Association to set up this facility on the lines of the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, that hosts World Snooker Championship.

However, the association had failed to develop the facility even after 13 years. It also failed to pay the lease amount of `50,000 per acre to the state government except in the first year of land allotment in 2005.

This land is now worth nearly `60 crore in the open market and the state government has initiated measures to take back the unused land.

The Rangareddy district administration has already initiated this process and sought permission from the state government to resume the valuable land.

After Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in June 2014 the newly formed Telangana state government surveyed valuable lands lying unused in the city and outskirts that were allotted by the state government in undivided AP.

The survey revealed the 1.36 acres of valuable land parcel lying unused since 2005. The RR district administration was alerted on this issue and submitted a report to government.

It brought to the notice of government that the AP Association not only flouted the norms by not setting up the sports facility, but it also changed its name to TS Billiards and Snooker Association without informing the government.

The government told Ranga Reddy collector Raghunanandan Rao to initiate the process to resume the land.

Official sources in the revenue department said that TRS MP from Chevella constituency, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, has been trying hard to save the project and has requested the government not to resume the land.

Mr Reddy was part of the AP Association and after bifurcation of the association following the division of the state he has been handling the activities of the association in Telangana.