The Green Pharma City project, planned within 40 kilometres of Hyderabad, involved the acquisition of 19,333 acres of land in Ranga Reddy district. The project is expected to create 5.6 lakh direct and indirect job opportunities, with an estimated investment of Rs 16,784 crore. Apart from drug manufacturing companies, there is a proposal to set up a pharma university as part of the project, raising concerns that farmers from 20 villages were to lose their landholdings due to the project development. 

The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation started land acquisition in 2016. The primary contention of the farmers was that they were being compensated at rates much lower than the prevailing market rate. While the cost per acre for Yacharam tehsil was Rs 7.5 lakh, the market price was Rs 22.5 lakh. The market price went up to more than Rs 80 lakh per acre in Kandukur tehsil. Moreover, violating the Supreme Court's judgement in the Mekala Pandu case, the government had also been compensating assigned lands and _patta _lands at different rates.

The unavailability of information had impaired the process of challenging environmental clearances (EC) within 90 days. There had been multiple inadequacies reported in the compensation process, as 18-year-olds were paid as adults, who are legally not eligible for compensation directly.
In response to a petition by eight farmers cultivating government-assigned lands from Kurmidda village, the Telangana High Court stayed the land acquisition process in September 2016. 

In May 2018, an expert appraisal committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change recommended granting EC to the project, on the condition that land is acquired with suitable compensation and the consent of land owners. Local activists say the authorities are, however, going ahead with land acquisition in violation of court orders by resorting to threats and spreading misinformation.

Some farmers who had earlier surrendered their lands began tilling them again in 2019, contending that the project had not made any progress and that the compensation had been highly inadequate.

In October 2020, when a meeting regarding the Pharma City project was held by officials, villagers flung chairs and raised slogans, enraged by the opacity of the process and their exclusion from it. This led to the police intervening and detaining them.

In February 2021, hundreds of farmers from Yacharam and Kadtal tehsils participated in a protest march opposing the project. One of the local organisations, Pharma City Vyatireka Porata Committee, demanded that the government stop the forceful acquisition of lands.

On 5 August 2023, the Telangana High Court quashed the notices regarding the acquisition of the land due to procedural irregularities found in the matter. Later in 2023, farmers returned to court with fresh petitions, alleging that officials were still interfering with their lands despite the High Court’s directions to halt and restart acquisition.

In August 2024, a single judge set aside a 2017 preliminary notification and related declarations for 250 acres, ordering the state to restart the process from the objections stage and to pay compensation based on current market value. 

Despite these orders, farmers allege that officials continued to survey and fence lands and even removed their names from the Dharani land portal, actions later acknowledged in court as illegal. According to a report by The Federal, the High Court struck down 12 acquisition‑related declarations and issued stays, yet many protesting farmers remain excluded from official records, leading them to describe Pharma City as a “nightmare” and a symbol of betrayal and displacement. 

In September 2024, the state appealed the single-judge order; a division bench issued notices to 72 farmers and the government, while Revenue Principal Secretary Navin Mittal insisted in a counter‑affidavit that Pharma City was not scrapped and that the Government order is still valid. Mittal clarified that no orders or decisions have been made to revoke GO 31 and that the government is actively implementing the project. 

The Advocate‑General similarly assured the court that land would be used for green pharma purposes and that farmers would receive compensation and also 'Rythu Bandhu' scheme benefits. In 2025, the Congress government announced the Bharat Future City Development Authority (BFCDA) over the same region, envisioning a multi‑sector hub and assigning some of the already acquired Pharma City land to a skill university and sports hub. 

Assigning the land for another project has reignited farmers’ demands for the return of their land if the Pharma City project does not move forward. This is in addition to the approval required from the High Court for the allocation.