Noted Supreme Court lawyer and Raman Magsaysay Award winner M.C. Mehta has called for building a public movement against the proposed Pharma City at Mucherla, on the outskirts of the city, arguing that it has the potential to become another Patancheru polluting the water resources in the area.
Mr. Mehta said Telangana does not need such a huge Pharma city on 12,000 acres given the harsh experiences it faced earlier where all of Patancheru was destroyed in the name of creating industries for employment generation. Since the existing laws of the Environment Act were not stringent and the way they were being diluted by various agencies, the only solution was to create people’s movements, he felt.
He suggested the activists to press for complete environmental assessment and social impact assessment as per the existing norms to safeguard the interest of people. Moreover, the Gram Panchayats being effected by the Pharma city should be taken into confidence as the resources belong to them. “For this, a strong people’s movement should be built,” he said.
Mr. Mehta was speaking at a round table on “Pharmacy Implications on Environment” here on Wednesday. Mr. Mehta, who was instrumental in ensuring proper drinking water for villagers in and around Patancheru through his PILs in the Supreme Court, said foreign companies were cleverly exploiting Indian resources and polluting the water and land here while keeping their lands safe and clean.
The Pharma city is proposed at Mucherla covering three mandals – Kandukuru and Yacharam in Ranga Reddy district and Amangal in Mahabubnagar district.
Noted Environmental activist Purushotham Reddy ridiculed the TS-iPASS that promises to clear the applications of Pharma companies promptly.
How can the Government bypass Constitution and promise permission without taking the mandatory clearances from various agencies, he asked, adding that they would go to any extent to stop the Pharma city as it was detrimental not only for the people but also for the environment of Telangana. He said the Ibrahimpatnam lake will turn into another Hussain Sagar if the project comes up.
Congress leader P. Karthik Reddy wondered how the Government would acquire 11,000 acres of which 6,000 acres were forest land. People in the entire area are dependent on agriculture and most of these were assigned lands. He said people in the area were against the project as they were aware of the danger. “We will fight out till the end to stop it,” he said.
M.C. Mehta said Pharma City has the potential to become another Patancheru, which was destroyed in the name of creating industries and employment generation
