Won’t back off from ‘Pharma Village’, says Telangana CM’s brother

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s brother A. Tirupathi Reddy on Wednesday declared that the government won’t back off from the ‘Pharma Village’ project in Revanth Reddy’s constituency Kodangal.

Tirupathi Reddy, who is Congress in-charge for the constituency, visited the office of Vikarabad district Collector and met Collector Prateek Jain who and other officials were attacked on Monday at Lagacharla village allegedly by people opposing the proposed project.

He later told media persons that there is no question of backing off from the proposed cluster. “Industries will definitely come up here. Not just pharma but other companies will also be established. The area will develop industrially,” he said.

Condemning the attack on the Collector and other officials, Tirupati Reddy said that the police would arrest all those involved in the attack no matter who they were.

The Chief Minister’s brother alleged that innocent people were provoked when a public hearing was being conducted in a peaceful manner.

The State government plans to acquire 1274.25 acres of government and patta lands from the villages of Hakimpet, Polepalli, and Lakacharla in Dudyal Mandal for the proposed pharma village.

On Harish Rao’s allegation that the government was forcibly taking away the lands of people, Tirupati Reddy said they did not vacate the villages overnight and attacked farmers as the previous BRS government had done for Mallannasagar project. BRS leader and former MLA from Kodangal, Patnam Narender Reddy was arrested by the police in Hyderabad on Wednesday for alleged involvement in the attack on officials.

The police have already booked 31 people in connection with the violence. They include some local leaders of BRS. Sixteen of them were sent to judicial custody on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, police stopped BJP MP D. K. Aruna when she was proceeding to Lagacharla village. Tension prevailed near Manneguda when the Lok Sabha member from Mahabubnagar sat on the road to protest against the attitude of the police. Aruna asked if she had no right to visit her own constituency. She also questioned the police officials as to how they allowed the Chief Minister’s brother to visit Vikarabad district.