Govt wings queue up for IDPL land at Balanagar

Hyderabad: Even as the Telangana govt is trying to resume 891 acres of Indian Drug and Pharmaceuticals Land (IDPL) land worth thousands of crores at Balanagar, there is a huge demand for land from various govt departments, which are asking the state govt to allocate land for their offices.The state govt has allocated 30 acres of land, including 20 acres to the newly created Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC), and 5 acres each to the deputy police commissioner of Balanagar office and the registration and stamps and industries department. The Medchal-Malkajgiri district collector sent letters allocating land, based on the recommendations of the govt, to the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC).However, the land allocation would be subject to only after high court clears the status quo, which was issued after IDPL approached it a few days ago.Official sources said TGIIC would later fence the 891 acres after getting permission to protect the land from further encroachment. TGIIC and revenue authorities preliminarily estimated that about 50 to 60 acres of land were encroached upon by private individuals and residential colonies have come up on the land. But in the police complaint filed against 11 persons on the charges of encroachment in the third week of Jan at the Balanagar police station, TGIIC initially estimated only 14 acres were encroached upon.“We have finalised an agency to fence the boundary of the IDPL land. As high court directed status quo, fencing would be done after court’s clearance,” a senior TGIIC official told TOI.The officials dismiss the claim of ongoing manufacturing activity at IDPL, Balanagar, and state it “is far from the truth”. “The state govt had allocated land in 1967 and a part of the land was given to National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), the pharmaceutical company became sick in 1992 and was referred to Board for Industrial and Finance Reconstruction (BIFR) in 2003 for winding up of IDPL. After the case was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), IDPL did not go for an appeal. Meanwhile, the then Rangareddy (now Medchal Malkajgiri) collector resumed the remaining land in 2008 and handed it over to TGIIC.Interestingly, IDPL website states the company, which used to manufacture 47 bulk synthetic drugs, including vitamins, sulphas, cholorquine, methyldopa, analgesics etc., from basic stages, has now stopped plant operations since 1996 (bulk drugs) and 2003 (formulations). Only effluent treatment plant (ETP) was being operated for treating effluents of nearby industrial units.