Stir by fishermen hits Pharma City

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, July 11, 2012: Most of the industries in Jawahar Lal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) developed by the Ramky Group were forced to suspend operations on Wednesday due to intensified agitations by fishermen.

Telugu Desam state vicepresident and former minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, along with local leaders, had launched an indefinite hunger strike on Monday demanding relocation of the Tadi village, which they said had been severely affected by pollution caused by the industries operating from JNPC.

On Wednesday, irate locals of Tadi and surrounding villages intensified their agitation and blocked entry and exit points of Pharma City. Not a single vehicle was allowed to pass.

With two rounds of talks between the agitating villagers and JNPC representatives and district administration failing, Mr Bandaru Satyanrayana Murthy decided to continue his hunger strike. Irate fishermen too vowed to intensify their agitation from Thursday.

The area resembled a war zone. Despite presence of a

large number of police personnel, the agitators, including women, entered the JNPC premises armed with sticks and damaged windows of the office building of Glochem Industries.

There are around 36 bulk drug manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies from Belgium, Japan, Germany, Spain, US, France and India operating at JNPC and 25 more are on the verge of setting up units. Last year these companies together had done business of around `5,000 crore.

Defending the Jawahar Lal Nehru Pharma City’s stand on the pollution issue, a top executive of the Ramky Group was quoted saying, “Our vision is that 30 per cent of pharma manufacturing and exports of the country should be done at JNPC in the coming years. Keeping this in mind, we developed JNPC with all amenities, facilities and managed to attract many pharma giants from abroad. As per the agreement signed with APIIC, Ramky’s responsibility is only to develop 2,141 acres of land and manage it efficiently. Rehabilitation, relief and relocation should be taken care of by the state government.” He added that agitations and stirs would have a devastating effect on future investments in Vizag, which had just started emerging as a pharma manufacturing hub after Hyderabad.

It is learnt that relocating the Tadi villagers would cost around `100 crore and neither Ramky, nodal agency APIIC nor the district administration is ready to spend that amount.

Ramky had already provided employment to 328 people from families displaced by the project

and 507 from families affected by the project against the total of 3,822 people employed in various units at JNPC.

Meanwhile, with two rounds of talks between the fishermen, JNPC representatives and district administration failing, TD state vice-president B. Satyanarayana Murthy has decided to continue his hunger strike, which entered the third day on Wednesday.

He refused to undergo medical tests and kept a bottle of petrol and matches next to him and threatened to immolate himself if the cops tried to use force to shift him to a hospital. “I will not relent until Tadi is shifted and jobs are given to Mutyalampalem youth,” he said.

■ Relocating the villagers would cost around `100 crore.