Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Region chairman C.R. Swaminathan on Tuesday spoke at length about the city’s potential as a hub of mango processing industry if advantage could be taken out of the large scale harvesting of the crop in the city’s vicinity in Krishna district.
Lack of proper processing facilities was resulting in a lot of wastage of the yield every year, Mr. Swaminathan pointed out, stressing the need for developing cold storage facilities so that the fruit could be preserved and made available to the people throughout the year.
Addressing a meeting of the member organisations of the CII Vijayawada Zone at The Gateway Hotel, Mr. Swaminathan disclosed that the CII was conducting a study on the industrial potential of Krishna district and a plan was also being prepared for identifying areas for development. CII Andhra Pradesh chairman Y. Harish Chandra Prasad, CII Vijayawada Zone chairman M.V.V. Satyanarayana, vice-chairman J.S.R.K. Prasad and others were present at the meeting.
Besides the fruit processing, Mr. Swaminathan also indicated about the vast scope for the development and strengthening of future initiatives in the areas of the foundry, auto components and educational institutions. He suggested that efforts should be made to identify the impediments for development of infrastructure that was necessary for these areas, and also spot the possibilities for their development.
The CII Vijayawada chapter consisted of 30 members as against the 400 members in the State and 7,500 in the country, he said.
Gas grid
Mr. Harish Chandra Prasad wanted the people of the State to fight for the establishment of a gas grid so that there would be a clarity on how much of gas was being explored in the KG basis and when.
If there was a gas grid at the State level, then it would remove the need for depending on gas supply on other players, he felt.
Footwear park
The speakers at the CII meet disclosed interesting details of the CII study plan for the district, which included a suggestion for the introduction of a non-stop high-speed train between Vijayawada and Hyderabad in view of the increasing traffic on this route by road as well as rail. As there were many companies, a big scope was there for the setting up of a footwear industrial park to further boost the growth of this sector, they opined.
