Land identified in Sangareddy for pharma hub includes fertile areas, say farmers

The farmers said 85 per cent of 2,003 acres identified for the proposed pharma hub were fertile lands on which they were cultivating two to three crops every year.

Sangareddy: Farmers of Dappur, Vaddy, and Malgi villages on Monday said the State government was violating the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Act 2013 as it was preparing to acquire fertile lands around these three villages. According to Act, the government can not acquire more than 10 per cent of fertile lands out of the total land needed for certain projects.

However, the farmers said 85 per cent of 2,003 acres identified for the proposed pharma hub were fertile lands on which they were cultivating two to three crops every year. Protesting against the government’s moves, the farmers staged a massive protest at the Sangareddy collectorate on Monday. They demanded Collector Valluru Kranthi’s time to air their concerns over the proposed land acquisition. However, Additional Collector B Chandrashekhar came to the place and heard their concerns in the absence of the Collector. Chandrashekhar assured to take the issues to the notice of the government.

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Zaheerabad MLA K Manik Rao, District Cooperative and Marketing Committee (DCMS) chairman Malkapuram Shiva Kumar and other BRS leaders, CPI (M) leaders Jayaraju, A Manikyam and others extended support to the protesting farmers. Since the government was preparing to acquire the land, the agitated farmers came to the Sangareddy collectorate to present a representation to the Collector. They also staged a protest.

Manik Rao said 1,702 acres out of 2,003 acres identified for the pharma hub were fertile lands. Many people were earning livelihood by grazing cattle in and around these villages. They would all lose their livelihood once the government acquired the land, he said. Since pharma companies were known for releasing harmful effluents, DCMS chairman Shiva Kumar said the effluents would pollute all the water bodies and even the Manjeera. The streams flowing through these three villages would confluence with river Manjeera just 10 km away.