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SriCity - Creation of a Patriot Engineer

Dt:22/4/26

SriCity  - Creation of  a Patriot Engineer

Dr T.H.Chowdary*

Sricity is a world class integrated business city located at the southern end of Andhra Pradesh  just 55 kmts north of Chennai on the Andhra Pradesh  and Tamil Nadu state borders. This is an idea and accomplishment of  Dr Sannareddy Ravindra Reddy, a farmer’s son from that  area  with a doctorate in engineering  from a reputed university in the US.  Unlike many who settle down in the US and make millions,  Dr Ravindra Reddy came back to his native place and vowed  to uplift the  area and its  people  from  low productivity land  and low incomes.

2.  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 ten 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 also 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 different 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  350 kmts 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. 

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.

SriCity in Figures

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