SANGAREDDY: Farmers in Nyalkal mandal of Zaheerabad Assembly constituency on Monday staged a protest in front of the district collector’s office, opposing the establishment of a pharma industry in their area.
A large number of farmers and women belonging to various villages of Nyalkal mandal participated in the protest.
BRS MLA Koninti Manik Rao from Zaheerabad constituency and District Co-operative Marketing Society (DCMS) Chairman Shivakumar led the protest against the proposed pharma industry.
The officials and staff faced difficulty in entering the collector’s office as the farmers blocked the main entrance. Farmers and BRS leaders continued their protest until Additional Collector (Local Bodies) Chandrasekhar came out and took their petition.
The farmers expressed fear that there would be only loss and no gain if the pharma industry comes up in their area.
They said that the government has acquired about 12,000 acres for the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) and is now preparing to take another 2,000 acres from farmers in Madgi, Dappur and Vaddi villages of Nyalkal mandal for the pharma industry.
If the government continues to take their agriculture lands at this rate for various projects, they will lose their livelihood, the farmers lamented.
The Zaheerabad MLA said that the environment which is very clean now in their area would be polluted if a pharma companies come up there. “It will pose a risk to farmers as well as pollute the Manjeera river,” he said, pointing out there is a danger of chemicals from the industry flowing into the Singur project, which caters to the drinking water needs of 90 percent of villages in Sangareddy district and some parts of Hyderabad.
The MLA reminded that Land Acquisition Act 2023 permits acquisition of land only if 90 percent is unfit for agriculture.
“The land that is proposed to be acquired is fertile and suitable for raising three crops a year,” he explained.