Jagan Lays Stone For Kadapa Steel Plant

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today laid the foundation stone for a steel plant at Kadapa estimated to cost Rs. 15,000 crore, and vowed to complete the project within three years.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the steel plant was the State's right as per the assurance given by the Centre during the bifurcation of the State, but that the previous government had not pursued the matter.

He said that as a son of the soil he had laid the foundation stone within just six months of coming to power, and promised that the plant would be ready in three years.

The plant would provide employment to over 25,000 people, and all the ancillary units bound to come up would create even more jobs and change the landscape of the region, he said.

The 30-lakh-ton capacity of the plant would also be a great contribution to the economy, he claimed.

The CM said that the Vizag steel plant was set up after a prolonged agitation and loss of human lives, but that he was laying the foundation stone for the Kadapa plant within just six months of coming into power. That contrasted with the previous government ignoring the issue for the best part of its term and only at the fag end taking up the ground-breaking ceremony, just to cheat the people on the eve of elections, he said.

He added that normally steel factories were set up by the Centre and it was not in the purview of the State, but that he would go ahead and try to negotiate with the Centre.

An area of 3,200 acres has been allotted for the steel plant.

Deputy Chief Minister Amjad Basha, district in-charge minister Adimulapu Suresh, and ministers Gautam Reddy and Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy were among those present on the occasion.