The issue of major companies and organizations that were allotted huge chunks of government land and have still kept it unutilized came up for discussion at the two-day collectors conference that began here on Wednesday.

In all, 4,885 acres of land that has been allotted to the companies and organizations have been lying unutilized. Of these, the APIIC distributed the lion's share of 3,300 acres while the state government allotted 1,555 acres. The noted companies and organizations that got land from the government and kept it unused include EPTRI (10 acres), Ambedkar Open University (27 acres), Airport Authority of India (9 acres), CMC (25 acres), and IDL (620 acres). The companies and organizations which have kept the land allotted by APIIC unused include Lanco Hills for Technology Park (50 acres) Fem India (100 acres) and AP Housing Board (120 acres).

The state government has already issued show cause notices to some of the organizations and companies as to why the land should not be recovered from them for not utilizing it for the purpose it was given. "We have already issued notices to some organizations like Airports Authority of India. We will take action against them as per the Telangana Alienated Land Rules, we are given permission to proceed to" said Ranga Reddy collector V Seshadri.

Land in Ranga Reddy district have become most precious in view of its proximity to Hyderabad and the fact that vacant land is the state capital is more or less saturated. At present, the land rate in Ranga Reddy district is hovering around Rs 10 crore per acre. Sources told that apart from the issue of the vacant land, the collectors' conference is also likely to look into the issue of the land allotment made to 40 companies that later reported sick.