Published May 22, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated May 22, 2026 | 7:00 AM
File image of farmers protesting against Pharma City in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Synopsis: While in Opposition from 2014–2023, the Congress in Telangana had promised the farmers that they would cancel a government order issued to acquire their lands. However, even after two and a half years in power, it has not taken a single step towards that direction. Moreover, the Congress government itself has now issued an order to acquire the same land that it had once promised to protect from government takeover.
“It is only the symbols that have changed; the character has not,” said farmer Kondal Reddy of Medipalli in the Medchal-Malkajgiri district of Telangana. That single sentence is enough to hold a mirror to the reality that, whoever the rulers may be, people’s problems remain unresolved.
The hardships that began nearly 10 years ago under the TRS (now BRS) government, the hardships that the Congress — then in Opposition — promised to eliminate once it came to power, have continued unchanged during these two and a half years of Congress rule, and have in fact intensified.
It is from his own lived experience that Reddy could articulate this profound truth. Along with him, several farmers, Barla Mallesh of Nanak Nagar, Devuji of Kurmidda, and Srikanth of Kurmidda Thanda, narrated similar stories of sorrow and anger.
“Should it be only us, the small farmers with one or two acres, who must sacrifice for the state’s development? Let those who own hundreds of acres make the sacrifice. Give your lands,” they challenged the rulers.
Kondal Reddy was one among five or six farmers who, at a meeting held two weeks ago at the Bashir Bagh Press Club in Hyderabad, poured out their suffering and anguish and expressed their spirit of resistance before those present.
Around thirty to forty farmers from villages in Yacharam, Kandukur, and Kadthal mandals of Rangareddy district had come that day to participate in an all-party meeting organised by the Struggle Committee Against Pharma City and the Telangana People’s Joint Action Committee.
They are farmers who have lost or are in the process of losing their lands due to the Pharma City that the previous government planned to build between Kandukur and Yacharam, the Future City that the present government is expanding in the same area, and the Greenfield Highway project.
For nearly a decade, they have been exhausted from knocking on every possible door of power, protesting against governmental coercion and displacement. They have knocked on the doors of courts, secured favourable orders, yet remain helpless before officials who do not heed those orders.
They are fed up with the double-tongued and multi-tongued attitudes of political leaders. As a last resort, they came to make their grievances heard by society. At the all-party meeting of political parties and people’s organisations, they expressed heart-rending anguish and are seeking solidarity from society.
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This tragic story of farmers, which reveals the true nature of our rulers — whatever their colours, slogans, or names — did not begin today. It is a story that has gone through many twists and turns over nine years.
In 2017, the TRS government initiated plans to build a Pharma City across 19,333 acres in this region. It was announced that in the first phase of this three-stage project, 150 pharma companies would begin production, that total investments of $9.7 billion (₹64,000 crore at the then exchange rate) would flow into the project, and that it would generate direct employment for 150,000 people and indirect employment for 500,000 people.
Those were dreams sold at the time. Years later, not even a tenth of it has materialised — that is a different matter.
While the promised rivers of milk and honey did not flow, the process of appropriating farmers’ lands certainly began. The Union government also approved this project initiated by the Telangana rulers and, in 2019, declared it a National Investment Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ).
Even before that, with the help of several government orders issued by the TRS government that distorted the spirit of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, and through the 2017 Telangana Act, the process of land acquisition began — nearly 10,000 acres in Yacharam mandal and 3,500 acres in Kandukur mandal. A large portion of the lands selected for this project consisted of government lands and assigned lands distributed to poor people.
This was a process of grabbing even the small parcels of land given to Dalits.
The high court struck down the government order (GO) issued for acquiring these lands. When another order was issued, it was also struck down by the high court. Subsequently, the acquisition of patta lands was initiated under the 2017 Act.
About 800 farmers from Medipalli, Nanak Nagar, Tatiparthy, Kurmidda, and Kurmidda Thandas approached the high court against this acquisition, which granted a stay on the land acquisition.
Since then, there has been a stay preventing the government from acquiring nearly 2,500 acres of land. In some cases, the high court even cancelled the land acquisition already carried out and ordered that the process be restarted. In short, all earlier notifications for land acquisition in these four villages were cancelled.
Meanwhile, agricultural labourers from these villages also approached the high court, arguing that no land in the village should be acquired without providing them full rehabilitation. Accepting this argument, the high court issued a stay stating that land acquisition should not proceed and that no work should begin on the acquired land.
The 2021 stay orders of the Telangana High Court clearly state that no work should be undertaken on assigned lands, patta lands, or even on lands voluntarily surrendered by farmers.
Despite this, the government paid no heed and removed the names of patta farmers from the Dharani online records. When farmers brought this contempt of court to the notice of the high court, the then government, through the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), admitted that “a mistake had occurred; removing farmers’ names online was an error; all removed names would be restored.” That has not been done to this day.
In fact, while issues such as the displacement of farmers and the government acquiring land cheaply to sell to pharma companies have come to light, larger concerns like pollution and environmental destruction that these pharma companies would bring have not even surfaced fully.
The affected farmers formed the ‘Struggle Committee Against Pharma City’ and expressed their protest in various forms — submitting petitions to the government, meeting political leaders and officials, fighting in courts, and organising padayatras.
The slogan “No to Pharma City, Thumping yes to agriculture” echoed across these villages. They refused to give up fertile land yielding three crops and migrate to cities to become destitute. They rejected the illegality of being displaced with a throwaway compensation of eight lakh rupees per acre.
Throughout this entire period — from 2017 to 2023 — all Congress leaders, then in Opposition, expressed solidarity with these farmers and the Struggle Committee Against Pharma City.
Congress leaders Kodand Reddy, MLAs Malreddy Rangareddy and Komatireddy Venkata Reddy participated in the farmers’ padayatra. Leaders like A Revanth Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and Seethakka (Danasari Anasuya) also promised that farmers should not give land for Pharma City, and that once in power, they would cancel the project and ensure full rights over their lands to the farmers.
Elections were held, and in December 2023, the Congress government came to power. An announcement was even made that the Pharma City would be cancelled. However, the earlier GO No. 31, issued for establishing Pharma City, was not revoked.
The restoration of farmers’ names removed from Dharani, as promised before the elections during the farmers’ agitation, did not happen. The problems that began before Dharani have remained unchanged not only in Dharani but also in Bhoo Bharati.
Even the website created by the government for Pharma City has not been shut down to this day. Ironically, news of BRS leaders opposing Pharma City and land acquisition now appears on that very website! The promise to repeal the 2017 land acquisition law introduced by the TRS government and to restore the 2013 Act has not been fulfilled.
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As if adding insult to injury, the Revanth Reddy government has now announced a new 30,000-acre Bharat Future City or Fourth City in the same area where the earlier 19,333-acre Pharma City was planned.
The current Future City plan, with an estimated cost of ₹18,785 crore, includes an Artificial Intelligence City, Health City, Sports Hub, Entertainment District, and residential housing. A Greenfield radial road from Outer Ring Road at Raviryal to Amangal will also pass through this region. A development authority and a commissionerate have already been established for this Future City.
For this new Future City and radial road, the Congress government is now attempting land acquisition using the same 2017 law that it had criticised all along.
The lands it once promised to protect from government acquisition are now being targeted for acquisition. When farmers of Kurmidda Thanda staged protests against the Greenfield Highway and demanded that their lands not be taken, they were threatened. Hundreds of police personnel have been deployed in each village, creating an atmosphere of fear.
Tenders are being called illegally, ignoring high court orders and stays that prohibit land acquisition and any construction on acquired lands. Construction work is being awarded to companies such as Raghava Constructions and L&T.
With police support, these contractors are encroaching on farmers’ land, levelling it, and preparing it for construction. When farmers mention the high court stay, police officials threaten them, saying, “If you want, go to court and file contempt cases.”
When farmers tried to submit a memorandum to authorities during the establishment of the commissionerate, they were arrested.
It is to bring such an urgent and relentless situation — blow after blow — before society that these farmers came to Hyderabad. Will urban civil society listen to this grave, life-and-death issue of the rural community? Will it compel governments to listen?
(Views are personal.)
