The mystery of the Hyderabad Pharma City!

Even Congress leaders have stopped talking about the Pharma City and Villages, with confusion said to be prevailing even within the party

Hyderabad: On January 1 this year, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy told the media that his government was ‘remodelling’ the previous BRS government’s Hyderabad Pharma City project, to go for 10 Pharma Villages on the city outskirts instead of having one pharma city at a single location.

On January 6, at a meeting with CII representatives, he reiterated this plan, stating that Pharma Villages would be developed instead of Pharma Cities. On February 18, while inaugurating the Telangana State Fire Services headquarters building, he again said his government would set up Pharma Villages and not Pharma Cities. “My government has a clear policy and there is no room for misconceptions,” he said.

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On February 27, at the BioAsia Summit 2024, while announcing the second phase of the Genome Valley, another BRS-initiated project, Revanth Reddy said the process of setting up 10 Pharma Villages with an investment of Rs.1 lakh crore had already begun in ‘greenfield pharma sectors’ in Vikarabad, Medak and Nalgonda. Speaking to the media at the same event the same day, IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said the government had decided to shelve the Pharma City project and instead establish 10 Pharma Villages across the State, beginning with Vikarabad, Medak and Nalgonda.

“Pharma City is gone,” Sridhar Babu had said.

However, over the last one week, the State is hearing a new version, courtesy the Telangana High Court. Even on Monday, Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy told the Court that the project, initiated under the previous BRS administration through GO Ms 31, was still intact.

Last week, when the High Court sought clarification from the State government on the Pharma City project, Revenue Principal Secretary Navin Mittal too told the court that no orders or decision were taken to revoke GO Ms 31 and that the government was actively implementing the project. He also said the news about scrapping of the proposed Pharma City in Yacharam mandal of Rangareddy was incorrect and unfounded.

So what is the truth? Even Congress leaders have stopped talking about the Pharma City and Villages, with confusion said to be prevailing even within the party in the wake of the contradictory statements from the State government.