North Andhra to be developed as industrial corridor, Anakapalli as major industrial hub: CM Naidu
Madugula (Anakapalli dist), Aug 22 (TNT): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said North Andhra would be developed as an industrial corridor and Anakapalli district transformed into a major industrial and knowledge-economy hub, with large-scale investments in steel, data centres, pharmaceuticals and aluminium.
Participating in the Swarna Andhra–Swachh Andhra programme at Alamanda Koduru, Naidu said Anakapalli would no longer be known only as a jaggery centre and would emerge as one of the leading industrial districts in the state.
He said the ArcelorMittal Steel City was under construction and several industries, including data centres, pharmaceutical and aluminium units, were coming up in the region.
The recently inaugurated ASR Airport would further boost development in North Andhra, he said.
Naidu announced that an industrial township would be established across 10,000 acres as part of the proposed industrial corridor. A skill centre would also be set up to equip local youth with skills required by industries.
The Chief Minister said Anakapalli had begun attracting investments on a scale surpassing Visakhapatnam and asserted that coordinated development of industries, infrastructure and skill development would help transform the district into the No. 1 district in the state.
Referring to concerns over water consumption by data centres, Naidu criticised what he termed a false campaign that the projects would dry up the region’s water resources.
He said all the proposed data centres together would require around 3.5 TMC of water and asserted that water received from the Polavaram project would be used to fill tanks across Anakapalli district.
Godavari water would be brought to Anakapalli in the first week of September, he announced.
Works on the NTR Reservoir would be taken up at a cost of Rs 29 crore, while the Raivada project would be completed to meet irrigation and drinking water requirements, he said.
Naidu also announced that the Veligonda project, initiated three decades ago, would be inaugurated on August 31. He said Rs 2,250 crore had been spent on development works across the state during the past two years.
Stressing that development was not limited to industries and investments, the Chief Minister called for greater public participation in maintaining cleanliness and protecting the environment.
He appealed to people to dedicate the third Saturday of every month to cleanliness and social welfare and adopt the ‘Mana Ooru–Mana Badhyata’ (Our Village–Our Responsibility) initiative.
Naidu called for every village to be transformed into a zero-waste village and said waste should be scientifically managed.
He claimed that 143 lakh metric tonnes of waste had been disposed of across the state during the past two years.
He also called for “political cleansing”, saying citizens should ensure that money did not influence elections and support governments working in the public interest.
Targeting the previous government, Naidu alleged irregularities in the liquor and land sectors and claimed that 30,000 people had fallen ill and died due to spurious and adulterated liquor during 2019-24.
He also alleged misuse of the Land Titling Act and said the present government was distributing titleholder passbooks under the ‘Mee Bhoomi–Mee Hakku’ programme.
On recruitment, Naidu said more than 300 petitions had been filed seeking to obstruct the Mega DSC recruitment process, but the government had overcome the legal challenges and completed the recruitment.
He asserted that there had been “not even one per cent corruption” in the DSC recruitment process.
He further alleged irregularities in the evaluation of Group-1 examination papers and said those responsible for any wrongdoing would not escape the law.
Naidu said reducing economic inequalities and improving the income and living standards of people, particularly the poor, were key indicators of development.
He said under Deepam-2.0, the amount for three free LPG cylinders would be credited to women’s bank accounts once every four months.
The Chief Minister said Andhra Pradesh’s goal was to become a developed state with high per-capita income by 2047, in line with India’s broader goal of becoming a developed nation and a leading global power.
Ministers Vangalapudi Anitha, P Narayana and Kollu Ravindra, MPs CM Ramesh and Chintakayala Vijay, and MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy were among those present.
TNT KM
