District administration seeks agricultural research land for private healthcare project

The Azim Premji Foundation has sought 12 acres of land in Kalaburagi city to establish a 500-bed hospital, following which the district administration identified ZARS land for the proposed project.

The proposed diversion of 12 acres from the Zonal Agriculture Research Station (ZARS), Kalaburagi, for a healthcare project of the private foundation has raised serious concerns among agricultural scientists, who say land developed over decades for crop research cannot be treated as surplus when the institution itself is facing an acute shortage of research space.

However, the University of Agricultural Sciences-Raichur (UAS-R) has refused to issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the proposed transfer of land belonging to ZARS, in response to correspondence from the district administration seeking the land for the project.