Hyderabad: No Future City nod given yet, Telangana tells NGT

Hyderabad: The Future City Development Authority (FCDA) has told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that it has not approved a single layout, township, building or development project in the Future City area, and that no proposal needing prior environmental clearance has even reached it.

According to The Times of India, the authority made the claim in a counter-affidavit filed before the NGT’s Chennai bench, where it asked for the petition against the project to be dismissed. It called the allegations “baseless, misconceived, unsupported by facts and wholly untrue”.

The petition was filed by environmentalist Donthi Narasimha Reddy, who alleged that the Telangana government had taken up the project without mandatory environmental clearances. In April, the tribunal declined to stay the project but issued notices to the Centre and the FCDA, asking for detailed replies. At that stage, the FCDA’s counsel had argued that the project was still at a preliminary stage and no development work had begun.

Website at the centre of the dispute

The FCDA has also disowned a website the petitioner cited as evidence. The commissioner, K Shashanka, stated in the affidavit that the site is neither owned nor maintained by the authority. The FCDA has begun steps to file a criminal complaint against those responsible for creating or running it, the affidavit said.

Tender and office building

On a tender referred to in the petition, the FCDA said it was floated through the government’s e-procurement platform only to appoint a consultant to prepare a vision document and comprehensive master plan for the Future City area. It said the tender has no link to executing infrastructure works or starting construction.

The authority also said its office building at Meerkhanpet, sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 19 crore, is purely an administrative facility and unrelated to any township project.

Mentions of Hyderabad Pharma City, land conversion, village resettlement, industrial activity and environmental clearances relate to other agencies and projects, the FCDA added.

What the FCDA says it is

Shashanka said the FCDA was set up as a special area development authority under the Telangana Urban Areas (Development) Act through Government Order (GO) No. 69, issued in March 2025. Its jurisdiction covers 56 revenue villages across 765.28 sq km.

The affidavit describes the FCDA as a planning and development authority, not a real estate project proponent.

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