HYDERABAD: After several twists and turns, the 487.20 acres of land in Yerraguntla area of Kadapa district finally went to M/s Raghuram Cements in an open auction conducted by a five-member committee here on Thursday.

J. J. Reddy, a director of the company, who participated in the auction, quoted Rs. 1 lakh an acre, the original price approved by the Cabinet, and the committee accepted and finalised the bid as no other party was present. Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, son of Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, is one of the directors of M/s Raghuram Cements.

The committee wanted to originally put up the land for auction on April 18 but postponed it to April 26 as only one party -- M/s Raghuram Cements -- was present.

A. Raghothama Rao, Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, who headed the committee, told The Hindu that the company paid an amount of Rs. 97 lakhs soon after its bid was finalised in addition to Rs. 24 lakhs it paid earlier as earnest money deposit. He said the Government would hand over possession of the land once it paid three-fourths of the total amount of Rs. 4.87 crores.

S. Bhale Rao, Special Commissioner, Land Administration, B. P. Acharya, MD, APIIC, Jayesh Ranjan, MD, HUDA and Kantilal Jain, Joint Collector, Kadapa, who are the members of the committee, were present.

The auction paves way for the Chief Minister to lay the foundation stone for the cement factory any day before going on his US tour.

Employment

Mr. J. J. Reddy said they would shortly begin the work on the factory which would provide employment to a large number of youth in the backward area.

The decision to allot the land to the firm was taken by the Cabinet in March but it was reserved subsequently by a Cabinet meeting following a political controversy. Later, the Chief Minister ordered a judicial probe into the allotment. He announced that the land would be auctioned and that M/s Raghuram Cements would participate in it.

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