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Pharma City on course?
Posted by Srini Uppala | December 31, 2007 | 650 views
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Loading ...Normally a project of this magnitude would have invited resistance from several quarters but surprisingly, the plan for the Pharma City project launched in 2004 has gone down well with opposition parties except for a murmur of protest over the blanket environmental clearance.
The 2,120-acre Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City, though far from completion, is proving to be the major venture for 2008, even as its contemporaries bauxite mining and alumina refinery putter along under opposition resistance. In spite of bringing with it the same set of issues like land acquisition, rehabilitation and environmental concerns, analysts say Pharma City may scrape through.
The tripartite agreement covering developmental and sale aspects of Pharma City coming up at Parawada near Visakhapatnam was signed by Ramky Pharma City (India) Ltd, the developer, the Bulk Drug Manufacturers’ Association (BDMA) and the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).
While the project is touted as an APIIC initiative, the government has come under fire for allowing Ramky group to conduct bidding for the land at exorbitant rates. “The land was given to Ramky at subsidised prices and the farmers who owned them were paid Rs 2 lakh and less per acre. But they were sold to companies for Rs 40 lakh and more,” CPM district secretary Narsinga Rao told ‘TOI.’
Though dubbed as India’s first product-specific industrial park to house bulk drug units and allied chemical manufacturers, only four units have begun production out of the expected 100. General manager of Ramky group Asit Kumar says Rs 300 cr is being spent on infrastructure, including laying of 100 km of pipeline for water supply and drainage of effluents into the ocean.
However, fishermen say pollution is posing a serious threat to their livelihood as a large number of fish are dying. “The units will dump toxic effluents indiscriminately into the ocean. The blanket eco clearance is a thoughtless move,” Forum for Better Vizag founder EAS Sarma says.
Questions over rehabilitation are also cropping up. Lemarthi, E Bonangi, Kottapalem, Panakalayyapeta and Parawada villages have been acquired for the project, housing scores of families. While other ventures promised employment for one person in every household, no promises were made to these farmers. Residents of Lemarthi have already been shifted to Yedumetlamarripalem in Aganampudi.
SOURCES:
Times of India
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