Three organisations — Citizens Against Pollution, Human Rights Forum and Socialist Party (India) — have issued a joint statement on Friday contending the Minister for Industries K.T. Rama Rao’s claim projecting the Pharma City as Hyderabad’s answer to COVID-19 pandemic.
They challenged him to prove that the existing pharma industry in the city has improved the health of the residents of Hyderabad and Telangana.
Mr. Rama Rao’s claim has laid bare his lack of awareness about coronavirus, the statement said, and added that the alarming spread of the disease and governance chaos are contrary to the projected claim of the Minister during a review on Thursday. “A false promise of putting Hyderabad on international map through setting up Hyderabad Pharma City ignores the fact that this city is already on international map for several reasons, including severe pharma pollution and existence of anti-microbial resistant bacteria in its water bodies,” the statement signed by Donthi Narasimha Reddy from Citizens Against Pollution, K. Babu Rao, a scientist and member of HRF, and Lubna Sarwat, the State general secretary of Socialist Party (India) read.
Telangana is already suffering immensely from industrial pollution particularly by pharmaceutical companies, which are compromising the quality of rivers, lakes and ground water. Several villages in Medak, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy and Mahabubnagar districts are facing the brunt, by way of lost livelihoods and health issues, the statement alleged.
Hyderabad Pharma City project at Medipally is a being opposed by local people, for those very reasons, and it cannot be a harbinger of their hopes and dreams as claimed by the Minister, it said, and questioned the silence of all political parties on this issue. The project will push rural population into poverty to enable profits of a few through exports of drugs which cannot be manufactured in US and European countries due to severe restrictions there on polluting technologies.
Among its demands, the statement asked for scrapping of pharma city project, re-assessment of the Telgangana growth model by all political parties and a statement by each of them on Hyderabad Pharma growth, a fund started with ₹1,500 crore to compensate pharma industry victims in Telangana, and a review of Telangana Industrial policy.