Police foil farmers' march against Pharma Village in Vikarabad district

Hyderabad, Oct 9: Police on Wednesday foiled Maha Padayatra by farmers in protest against the proposed Pharma Village in Telangana's Vikarabad district. The farmers had given a call for Maha Padayatra from Polepally to the Dudyal Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) office in the Kodangal Assembly constituency, represented by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.

Police stopped the protesters near Hakimpet in Dudyal Mandal, where the government proposes to set up Pharma Village, a cluster for pharma companies. Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) announced its support for Maha Padayatra by farmers. BRS leader Patnam Narender Reddy, who participated in the protest, was arrested by the police.

Several protestors, including BRS cadres, were also arrested by the police. Farmers at Hakimpet have been protesting for the last 27 days. They are of the view that Pharma Village will result in environmental pollution. Police forces were mobilised at Hakimpet crossroads to foil the protest by farmers.

The Chief Minister's proposal to establish Pharma Village in his constituency faced stiff resistance from farmers. They argued that the land acquisition plan threatened their livelihoods and vowed to continue their protest until the government withdrew its proposal. During a protest last month, a woman farmer threatened to take her life if her land was taken away for the project.

The State government plans to acquire 1274.25 acres of government and patta lands from the villages of Hakimpet, Polepalli, and Lakacharla in Dudyal Mandal for the proposed pharma village. A group of farmers from Daultabad Mandal had recently met BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and sought his support. The farmers said nearly 3,000 acres of agricultural land in the villages of Hakimpet, Polepalli, and Lakacharla in Dudyal Mandal were at risk of being taken from them.

They also alleged that the Chief Minister's brother Tirupathi Reddy pressured them to give up their lands. They described the government's actions as a "conspiracy" to grab land worth lakhs of crores, ignoring that these farmlands were their primary source of livelihood. The previous BRS government had proposed the Hyderabad Pharma City project on 14,000 acres of land in Yacharam Mandal in Rangareddy district with an investment of Rs 64,000 crore. However, after Congress came to power, the Chief Minister announced that the government would establish Pharma Villages.

BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao alleged a big land scam involving thousands of crores behind the proposed cancellation of the Pharma City project. Rama Rao alleged that the Congress government deceived the public and the High Court. He argued that land acquired for Pharma City cannot be repurposed for other projects.