Return lands acquired for Pharma City, demands KTR

The BRS government had made all efforts to establish a pharma city at Mucherla but the Congress government was not taking forward the project, he said.

Hyderabad: Pointing out that since the State government had announced the scrapping of the Pharma City project, BRS working president KT Rama Rao demanded that the government return the lands acquired for the project to farmers.The BRS government had made all efforts to establish a pharma city at Mucherla but the Congress government was not taking forward the project, he said during the marathon session in the Assembly on Monday night.

About 12,000 acres of land was pooled in many villages, including Mucherla for the pharma city. However, the Congress government had repeatedly announced that the project was cancelled. If that was so, the government should make an announcement as to when the lands would be returned to the farmers, he said.

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The BRS working president also pointed out that in the past, Congress leader Kodanda Reddy, Ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, D Sridhar Babu and even Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had assured that they would return the Pharma City lands to farmers.

Rama Rao also expressed concern over the drastic increase in the Musi River Front Development project cost estimates. The BRS government had prepared plans for River Musi beautification at an estimated cost of Rs.16,000 crore, he said. But the Congress government initially announced that the project would be taken up with Rs.50,000 crore. Later, the Tourism Minister announced that the project would be taken up with a cost of Rs.75,000 crore and then the Chief Minister said it would cost Rs.1.5 lakh crore.

All the preparations were completed for River Musi beautification project, including construction of East- West Express Highway at an estimated cost of Rs.16,000 crore, he said.

“The Congress government should explain to the people how the project cost has escalated by Rs.50,000 crore. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said a Detailed Project Report was ready and the same should be kept in public domain,” he said.

The BRS Working president also expressed concern over suspending the SRDP and SNDP projects works in Hyderabad. Construction of flyovers and bridges was stopped since the last eight months due to delays in clearing the bills. The government should pay the bills, he said.“Congress government is boasting about taking up elevated corridors but only Rs.700 crore was allocated to HMDA in the budget. The government should explain the people how the project, which costs nearly Rs.5000 crore, will be completed,” Rama Rao demanded.