Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday, August 1 criticised the Telangana government over land acquisition for the Pharma City project.
In a dig at the Congress, the former Telangana minister said “fake promises, legal manipulation, harassment by government officials and shameless land grabbing” are cornerstones of the party’s governance.
The Sircilla MLA took to X and said, “Be it the tribal farmers of Lagacharla or the forest lands of Kancha Gachibowli or now the lands acquired for the Hyderabad Pharma City….the process remains the same.”
On “behalf of farmers in Telangana”, KTR posed some questions to the state government, such as why the Congress is not returning farmers’ lands to them as promised during the Telangana Assembly elections. He asked why the government isn’t “even sitting down with them for a discussion.”
KTR questioned Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy if he wants to build the future city by “betraying” farmers.
Land acquisition row
The land acquisition controversy surrounding the Hyderabad Pharma City project has been marked by significant opposition from local farmers and legal challenges.
The project, which aims to establish a large pharmaceutical industrial park near Mucherla, involves the acquisition of approximately 19,333 acres of land in the Ranga Reddy district.
Farmers from around 20 villages are resisting the acquisition, primarily due to compensation issues, claiming that the rates offered by the government are substantially lower than the prevailing market rates.
Procedural irregularities alleged
The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation initiated the land acquisition process in 2016, but it has faced numerous allegations of procedural irregularities.
Farmers argue that the government has violated the Supreme Court’s rulings regarding compensation for assigned lands and has been opaque in its acquisition process.
Many farmers have had to resort to filing Right to Information (RTI) requests to obtain details about the acquisition notifications, which have hindered their ability to challenge environmental clearances effectively.
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