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With the Hyderabad High Court staying the land acquisition process for the Green Pharma City proposed by the Telangana government at Meerkhanpet of Kandukur mandal in Ranga Reddy district, the prestigious Green Pharma City project aimed at expanding and replacing the polluting pharma units away from the main city is likely to be further delayed.
Earlier, the state government had issued an order (G.O) Ms No. 45 to acquire assigned and private land from the villagers through negotiations. Accordingly the Tahasildar of Kandakur mandal had issued a notice to the villagers and sought objections if any for acquiring 493 acres of land for the proposed pharma city project.
Aggrieved by the Tahasildar’s notice Maddi Bharatamma and 16 others approached the High Court complaining against the revenue authorities for adopting illegal methods to snatch the assigned lands. Reacting to this, Justice Ramachandra Rao, termed the notice of the Tahasildar as illegal and stayed the GO Ms No 45 issued by the Telangana government as unconstitutional because it blatantly advocated by passing the 2013 Land Acquisition Act.
“The Tahasildar has not mentioned or referred to any law or rules for acquiring the land. Therefore the notice is illegal. Moreover, the GO Ms 45 issued by the state government is bypassing the Land Acquisition Act 2013 which empowers the land losers a fair compensation,” observed the Judge and issued a stay order for 8 weeks and directed the state government to file a counter in 2 weeks.
Reacting to this, the industry players opined that though the state government’s intention to replace the polluting industries is good, the government should have followed a fool proof and legal approach to acquire the land for the pharma city.
“As the industrial clusters in Hyderabad and surrounding districts are already saturated and facing the ire of pollution control board frequently, it is very important to shift the polluting industries towards outskirts with all the facilities. And therefore the green pharma city is very much essential. However the government must expedite the land acquisition and develop as early as possible before the investors go out for alternative destinations,” opined Narayan Reddy, past president of BDMA.
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