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Bhadradri to turn power hub soon. Industrialists keen to set up more units in Khammam

Khammam: IMPLEMENTING the 1/70 act in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district is one of the causes of not developing the industrial zone. The district which has more potentiality for establishing the new industries but implementing the 1/70 no non-tribal people came forward to establish big industries. As a result, the district youth has been deprived of jobs in industrial sectors.

To talk of the major industries - Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS), Nava Bharath Company, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bhadrachalam Paper Board Limited (BPL), were established before the year

1970. After that only one Industry came to Kothagudem, that is Bhadrachalam Thermal Power Station in the year 2015 after the new state was formed. Only ten major industries and 150 small scale industries were set up in the district.

On the other hand, Khammam district has been developing more industries in the last few years. Nearly 2,000 industries were set up in the district. The majority were cold storages, and more than 1000 granite processing industries were set up in the district. The district is also named the granite hub of the state. There is no objection to establishing new industries in the district.

The proximity to the Nalgonda district and being not too far from the mega city of Hyderabad, is a big advantage to Khammam district compared to the Bhadradri-Kothagudem district that is not close to any major city. Hence Khammam attracts industrialists.

General Manager of District Industries Centre of Khammam K Ajay Kumar said, a total of 2,450 industries in the district employ 22,392 people. Of these, two are large sugar industries, six are medium level industries, as many as1000 are granite processing units, cold storage units are 42 in number, as many as 12 are ginning mills, stone crushing mills are 40, and 12 milk chilling units. As many as 177 proposals have been received for the setting up of new industries in the district, he added.

Meanwhile, General Manager of Kothagudem District Industries Centre T Seetha Ram said, Nearly 10,000 employees were working permanently and nearly 15,000 members were working on a temporary basis in ten major companies in the district. The district has 150 small scale industries also. "This year we received only 10 proposals for establishment of new industries," he added.

The district is covered under the newly formed 1/70 act barring a few villages he informed. There is a possibility of the tribal people opposing the establishment of new industries here. It is one of the causes that the district has not set up more new industries, he added.

Bhadradri district turns power hub

After the construction of Bhadradri Thermal Power Station (BTPS) being built at Manuguru in the district is completed, Kothagudem is set to become the power hub in Telangana State.

Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS) established six decades ago at Paloncha, which is located ten km away from the district headquarters is already generating 1800 megawatts (MW) power. The KTPS consists of seven phases with different capacities.

The BTPS with the power generation capacity of 1080 MW will help to take the overall power generation in Kothagudem district to 2,800 MW, which will be the highest power generation in one district in the state, said officials.

According to the KTPS officers, the KTPS started power generation in 1966. The generation capacity of the first phase unit is 60 megawatts and the same is the capacity of the second phase unit which was started in 1967. The two phases generated 120 MW. The third phase which has two units commenced power generation in 1974 and 1975 respectively. It generated 120 MW power in each phase and total generation capacity is 240 MW.

Another 240 MW power was added in the years 1977 and 1978 with two units of fourth phase. The above four stages are Operations and Maintenance (O &M) plants. After that, the fifth plant in two stages started 250 MW each power generation in 1997 and 1998. The sixth plant added 500 MW power generation in the year 2011. The seventh plant generating the power since last December with 800 MW capacity. The (O & M) plants will be closed because of environmental reasons, they said.

The KTPS including all the plants generated 2,520 MW power in earlier days. After the O & M plants are closed one by one, the remaining plants - fifth, sixth and seventh are generating 1,800 MW. The O&M plants, which are being closed down used to generate 720 MW power.

The employees who were working in O & M plants have been adjusted in the other plants, they said. There will be no impact on overall power generation with the closing of the old plants as the BTPS will be adding 1,080 MW power.

The Bhadradri Thermal Power Plant works are going on at a brisk pace and it will be ready for inauguration in coming days. It is the first mega project started in the state after the formation of Telangana and after it is completed the state will have no power issues.

The Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao laid the foundation stone in the year 2015 for the project at Manuguru. The project is being constructed on 1,179.3 acres with nearly Rs 9,268 crores.

Nearly 3500 tonnes of coal will be used per unit of power generation, The Chief Engineer of BTPS Bala Raju said.

A senior citizen KV Ramana said, "The district has occupied important places in the State in all respects. It is famous for historical temples like Bhadradri Lord Rama temple, tourism spots and now it will be famous for power generation."