The Congress government initially said it would go ahead with the Pharma City Project mooted by the previous BRS dispensation, but later said the plan has been scrapped and instead, pharma villages would be developed.
Published Nov 03, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 03, 2024 | 9:00 AM
Hyderabad's pharma hub initiative is caught between a city and a village
The Congress rode to power in Telangana on a wave of promises made to the people. From its flagship guarantees to the Musi Riverfront Development Project, its vision for Telangana is ambitious.
However, the government’s lofty ambitions face numerous practical issues. Be it the non-payment of the farm loan waiver or the sudden and abrupt demolitions under the Musi Rejuvenation project, Congress has much left to do to fulfill its promises.
Still, it carried over one ambition of the BRS regime: to develop a ‘Pharma City.’ Despite its assurances in January 2024 that the government is streamlining the project, it has been facing numerous challenges.
In 2022, former IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao wrote to the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, seeking the setting up of pharmaceutical parks in Telangana. Spread over 19,000 acres, the goal was to make it the world’s largest pharma cluster.
A timeline of the Pharma CityVillage project in Telangana
KTR reported that the then government got the necessary environmental permits from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. Further, the project was to be implemented using sustainable technologies, and it attracted the interest of over 400 investors.
In January 2024, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy assured that the Congress regime would not scrap the Pharma City project. However, he informed that the government was redesigning and streamlining the project to benefit the public.
However, in February, IT Minster Sridhar Babu said the government was scrapping the Pharma City project due to legal issues involving farmers over land acquisition. Instead, he informed that they were developing Pharma Villages across the state.
Revealing that Nalgonda, Medak, and Vikarabad districts will receive the first three pharma villages, he said that the Congress regime would alter the previous policies to eliminate inefficiencies.
Even as the land acquisition for the pharma villages is underway in Vikarabad, Nalgonda, and Medak, a curious case presented itself in September. Despite Babu informing the press that the Pharma City plan has been scrapped, on September 23 the state reported otherwise to the high court.
Hearing over 150 writ petitions regarding land acquisition for the project, the state informed the court that the Pharma City project was initiated by the BRS via GO 31 earlier. This dichotomous stand confused the masses and armed the Opposition.
In July, KTR questioned when the state would return the lands acquired for the project. Following the government’s stance in court, he further alleged in September that there was a multi-crore scam underway in Telangana.
Stating that cancelling the pharma city project would be detrimental to Telangana’s economy, he further demanded that Congress forgo its ‘corrupt schemes.’
Before the Congress’s ascent to power, it had opposed the Pharma City project.
In a role reversal, the BRS in early October said that it would support the farmers opposing the land acquisition for the Pharma Villages in Telangana.
Speaking at Dappur, in Medak, BRS leader and Siddipet MLA Harish Rao reiterated this position, stating that the Pharma Village would pollute the Manjeera River.
In September, KTR alleged that the Congress scrapped the Pharma City project as part of a land scam. The Opposition raised these allegations following the government’s stance in the Telangana High Court regarding the Pharma City project where they didn’t inform the courts about its ‘scrapping’.
On 25 October, people in the Vikarabad district took to the streets to protest against the land acquisitions. The protest turned violent as the protestors almost attacked the local leader who showed disdain for their concerns.
Similarly, the people of the Kodangal had protested land acquisition under the project, outside the Mandal Revenue Office. Then, Thoorpu Rajamma, a Dudyala woman almost took her own life to oppose the acquisition.
Interestingly, neither protest has been addressed yet. There is silence regarding the protests in Vikarabad despite the chief minister’s recent visit to the Kodangal constituency in the same district.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
