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SriCity - Creation of a Patriot Engineer

 Dt:  12/9/25

SriCity  - Creation of  a Patriot Engineer

Dr T.H.Chowdary*

Kacha the  son of Brihaspati, the  preceptor  to the  Devas  went to  Sukracharya, the preceptor of the Danavas to learn Mrita Sanjivani Vidya, the science  of reviving  the dead persons.  During his pupilship under  Sukracharya, the latter’ s daughter Devayani  falls in love with Kacha.  The Danavas (demons)  sensed  that the mission of Kacha  was to  acquire the technique of reviving the dead  from Sukracharya.  Therefore  they killed him . But  Devayanai because of her love  for Kacha  implored her father to revive Kache whenever he was Killed by the  Danavas.  At last,  the Danavas  not only killed Kacha , but also reduced him  to ashes  and mixed the ashes in the  Sura  intoxicating drink to which  Sukracharya was addicted.  Not finding Kacha anywhere,  Devayani implored her father  to look for  and get Kacha alive. Sukra used his divya dristhi,  looked everywhere  but did not find  Kacha. He looked inwards into himself and found that  Kacha was reduced to ashes  and   those ashes were administered to him  along with his Sura (alcohol).   If he  revived  Kacha and he came out,  Sukracharya would die. Therefore   Sukra taught the technique of  reviving the dead  to Kacha  while  his remnants were  in his  stomach .  Sukra told Kacha   that he would be revived ; and Sukra will be  dead in the  process. The test of his  successful learning  of reviving the dead, would be  that after he came out alive,  he should revive Sukra. It happened like-wise. Now that Kacha  knows the technique  of reviving,   he bade goodbye and wanted to go away  to his  people. But Devayani would not allow him . Kacha said  that he would not marry her and  said I have not come to marry you or anybody here and settle down here. I have come  here to acquire the technology of reviving the dead. I have got my  Ph.D in this  technology . I will go back to my land , to my people. And he did go back to his land to serve and save his people.

2. I am narrating this story   to  describe a person  here in Andhra Pradesh who (like Kacha)  went to the  USA and  got  a degree in technology but, like many thousands, did not settle there but  came back to India  to his own state, AP   his own town, Sulluripeta in Nellore district. Near that town  he established  a new town,  SriCity which has now become a legend of development, of building up India  and uplifting its  people. He  is Sri  Sannareddy Ravindra Reddy, an engineering graduate of Sulluripeta.  He comes   from a lower middle class farmer’s family . He acquired   post-graduate degree in Environmental  Engineering  in a US university.  Back home,  he set up on  uplifting  his area and the people. He floated a company SriCity Private Limited. He  acquired 9000 acres, paying  three times  the then  price per acre,  to every  farmer  who owned the  land. He developed the area by building  roads  150 km in total length, got electricity . SriCity was inaugurated in 2008 as a  Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by the  then Chief Minister of AP, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy garu.

3. He canvassed  and attracted foreign companies  to  invest   in and build their production centers.  He leased the plots  of an area  that the foreign companies wanted.   By now  there are  240  foreign companies  from 31 countries . They are  employing 65,000 people,   52% of whom are women.  And all these are  from the  villages, within about a few kilometers.  They  come  daily   walking, on cycles and in buses  in the morning and go back to their homes in the evening five  days a week.  Most of them  are just 5^th  to 8^th class pass from their  village schools .   The minimum wages are about  Rs. 20,000 per month for 5 days a week work.    All the 9000 acres  are  flush with  greenery, with tens of  thousands of trees of every variety lining up the streets on either side.   Not  a single drop of   rain water  escapes this area. They are all impounded in ponds . The water table  is  just two meters below, risen up from a depth of over five feet. 

4. The largest number of companies,  31 are from Japan.    The products range  from tooth brushes, sanitary napkins, coats and wheel chairs,  to air conditioners  and  hold your breath, railway  coaches. ……

5. Everything that is produced by the  240 companies here is exported . This has got the status of export promotion zone.   Companies from Japan,   USA, UK , France,  Singapore  Korea , England, China, Taiwan, Australia, Russia …….are among the  31 countries.

6. Sri  Ravindra Reddy very imaginatively  collected  a number of  retired  engineers,  HRD  people and from other professions  so that  their rich experience is available  in the planning, administration  and  management  of this Sri City.  Considerable experience and wisdom are thus available to Sri Ravindra Reddy  for his Sri City venture. Venture Capitalists from cities like Chennai flock to this SriCity to finance and  set up  some more  companies.

7. In the SriCity  Sri Reddy built  a temple for Lord Venkateswara .  The  city is still being expanded. There is a  Japanese hotel  . There is a University and  one IIIT in this very SriCity.  In addition to the manufacturing center it is also  an educational center with two High Schools.    The city is so clean, its roads are  excellent  and you can see trees everywhere lining up all the streets and all the vacant areas.

8. Sri Ravindra Reddy  is in contrast  to the children of  politicians who go to the USA , get a degree with somebody’s finance , come back and inherit  the father’ s political leadership, in what  Prime Minister Narendra Modiji calls  the Parivar Vaad mode.  There are  children of Chief Ministers  who studied in the USA, financed by  some business men who benefited from the political  parents , come back but don’t use the knowledge they seemingly gained by study abroad for building up India, but  they join the father to inherit the political leadership and build fortunes for themselves and their progeny.

9. Sri Ravindra Reddy is a trailblazing,  dreaming, inspiring builder of prosperity  and power for Bharat  uplifting its poor  rural folk . By founding SriCity he transformed a backward region into a thriving global industrial hub, hosting 240 companies and creating over 65,000 jobs.   For rural communities, advancing women’s employment and  by skilling these just literates. Remarkably, he infused cultural and spiritual values into these rural people . He is a strong advocate and practitioner of eco-friendly development.

10. Of the 240 companies as many as 35  are from Japan. There are also  a few buildings with living quarters for a number of Japanese business men . The farmers who had  sold their  lands  to  SriCity had  built  beautiful buildings  for themselves in the  city and some of them  are  in good business like  transport   and other  services.

11. The large Japanese companies patronise a Japanese restaurant and  a club. Some  farmers with their compensation money have  built multistoried apartments blocks. Some have  become venturesome business men.

12. Areas and groves are  named after our Puranic places and  persons.  There is a Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple too amidst a forest like within Sri City.

13. SriCity is a symbol of Bharat rising to its  former  glory -  there is no American, Russian, Chinese or British  ocean  - there is Indian Ocean !  SriCity inspires, beckons Bharatiyas to awake, arise and  advance.

14. Ravindra Reddy’s transformative work at Sri City has earned high praise from national leaders, diplomats and  media.  Prime Minister Sri Modi lauded Sri City’s manufacturing gains.  Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitaraman called  it key to India’s GDP  growth . CM Sri Chandra Babu Naidu and NITI Ayog CEO Sri Subramanyam praised its global model and eco- friendly   planning.  Foreign envoys including Japan’s and Belgium’s Ambassadors acknowledged its global appeal.  A Task Force urged replicating its model for electronics growth.  Leading media hailed Sri City’s impact with headlines crediting Ravindra Reddy for creating a thriving , inclusive and  sustainable industrial ecosystem that’s changing regional and  national narratives.

15. Bharat should recognize and  celebrate  this Kacha -like son by a Padma Puraskar.

N.B: This narrative is by the 94 year young Dr T H Chowdary, a Padma Sree awardee after  a four- day ( 4-7 Sept 2025) study visit to Sri City .

SriCity in Figures

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