Hyderabad: As the state was focused on election results on May 16, the AP Pollution Control Board, which is being divided by June 2, was busy issuing permits to polluting industries.

Political parties, which look at slum populations as their prime vote bank, continue to make false promises of regularising lake lands that has been encroached. Musi River is one such area.

Ramulu, who has seven acres of farmland in Kazipally village, was well off years back and used to support his family of four including his wife and two daughters. He used to grow paddy on his land and earn enough by selling it twice a year. But, now he has given up farming as his fertile land has turned barren due to pollution of the land and water due to effluents from bulk drug units and the pharma industry.