The very mention of this district conjures images that speak of large-scale migration of poor people to distant lands in search of employment. That this phenomenon has been witnessed for decades is an undisputable fact.
However, if one were to go by recent initiatives of the administration, things do look promising and if not entirely put a halt to the migration, it looks as though a significant dent may be put to the distressing scenario in the district that is popularly known as ‘Palamur’.
According to the District Collector T.K. Sreedevi, a whopping Rs. 695.50 crore of investments were announced by 12 companies in sectors like rotograve printing, non-whipping dairy cream, HDPE and PVC pipes, chocolates, pharmaceutical formulations, modular furniture, water treatment chemical, films, glass bottles and solar power.
These announcements came at an ‘Investors Meet’ organised by the district administration at Kothur on June 19. Of the 12 proposals, two were cleared under the Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self-Certification System (TS-iPass), mentored by the Advantage Mahbubnagar Cell headed by the General Manager, District Industries Centre, V. Koteswar Rao, Chief Executive Officer, Society for Training and Employment Promotion in Mahbubnagar (SETMAH), K. Somasekhar Reddy and Deputy Director-Horticulture, Y. Vidya Sankar.
And capping it off was the declaration of an additional Rs. 200 crore investment by a company from Chhattisgarh for producing starch from maize. Ms. Sreedevi pointed out that this was a welcome departure from tradition where maize would almost always be used only as feed for poultry. The value addition she said was most welcome.
The district administration is looking to develop two vegetable clusters in 12 villages of Balanagar and Shadnagar mandals which will yield vegetables like capsicum, gherkin, beans, ridge gourd and cluster beans. “By hand-holding the setting –up of these clusters, we wish to add about 10,000 hectares to produce vegetables alone. Currently, farmers sell their produce in the Guddimalkapur market in Hyderabad. We have plans to have infrastructure to process vegetables, apart from cold storage facilities to add value,” the District Collector said.
The approximately Rs. 900 crore of investments announced thus far, makes Mahbubnagar No. 1 compared to other districts and the district administration has come in for appreciation from Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Minister for Panchayati Raj and Information Technology, K.T. Rama Rao and Industries Minister Jupally Krishna Rao. “Works on grounding the approved projects have already been taken up by two companies,”
On development course
Mahabubnagar captures the top position in the State in terms of investments announced
District resources, primarily land bank, mapped
Rs. 900 crore investments announced by 13 companies
Two vegetable clusters planned in Balanagar and Shadnagar mandals.
Instead of traditionally using maize as poultry feed, Chhattisgarh company to make starch.
