Booming Sri City draws migrated people back

Tirupati: Sri City SEZ (Special Economic Zone) is inducing reverse migration at a time when there is an increased exodus of people from villages to urban areas.

The booming integrated business city that came into existence a decade ago, spread over 100 sq km area comprising an SEZ, a Domestic Tariff Zone (DTZ), Free Trade Ware Housing Zone (FTWZ) and an Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) brought a sea change in the lives of the people in the once most backward Satyavedu area.

Many rural educated and aspiring youth and even the unschooled and unskilled who were forced to leave villages in search of livelihood in towns and cities are now returning with Sri City offering a lot of scope to earn more than what they are getting in adopted homes.

Prasad Reddy, a mechanical engineer-turned a civil contractor, was forced to go all the way to Kumbakonam in Tamil Naidu, to work as contractor, returned five years ago to his Cherivi village in Sri City area.

Talking to The Hans India, Prasad said, “Though we have lands they don’t have any dependable irrigation facility. When I was struggling 10 years ago, a family friend recommended civil contracts in Kumbakonam.

I visited my parents after some years only to see my village being metamorphosed with the huts replaced by pucca houses while everyone has found some work for living. That trip is a turning point for me as I too got an offer from Sri City management as engineer and there is no looking back. Now I have two more houses with my five-year job, getting more as rents.

A small farmer Sanyasaiah’s success is swift. After giving away his two acre unproductive barren land to Sri City, he set up an eatery with the compensation amount he got and went on doing small contracts adding to his wealth to purchase tractors which brought him more revenue in goods transport.

“Actually, I left the village and working as foreman providing labourers to contractors in Srikalahasthi and Tirupati as my small holding unable to feed my family of five. I am not alone, there are hundreds of people who become rich soon and now own vehicles like cars, tractors and even JCB s (earthmovers) which were in full demand from the industries that came up here,’’ he said vouching the phenomenal growth catching up Satyavedu, Vradaiahapalem and Tada mandal areas.

Not only these enterprising men but also lay men and women too benefited from Sri City growing year after year. A middle aged illiterate woman B Valli of Thonduru said, “My family was almost leaving the village with my husband, a cook in an eatery in Tada, to Nellore city to work in a hotel to get more wage.

A Sri City official persuaded me to get security guard training, getting a job here itself earning Rs 8,000. Now there is no need for me to look anywhere. Almost all willing women found one job or other now in the industries in Sri City.”

Sri City managing director Ravindra Sanna Reddy said before Sri City SEZ came up, the area was mostly arid and unproductive forcing the youth to move mostly to Chennai, the nearest metropolitan city or places like Tirupati, in search of greener pastures. The area is infested with bootleggers, sand mafia and red sanders smugglers. But the visible economic growth following industrialisation saw them wiped out.

“In fact, we would have achieved this stage much earlier. The worldwide recession coupled with the upheaval of state division delayed this. Our focus now is to see more facilities for education, health and entertainment.

The first two are already taking shape with the setting up of colleges, IIIT, skill development centre but the third one still to be achieved as it needs more time and efforts.

Good entertainment facilities is a must for the range of work force including foreigners so that they have no need to go to Tirupati or Chennai. With full-fledged entertainment facilities Sri City will become a truly industrial city,” he said expressing confidence that the SEZ would become the Shenzhen of India.

All put together, as of now, about 175 companies from 27 countries have chosen Sri City as home, investing nearly Rs 35,000 crore turning it a multi-product manufacturing city and emerged as top Japanese business enclave with more than 20 Japanese companies in automobile, engineering and logistic sections operating.

Ramanaiah a political activist in Matherimitta said in a lighter vein that soon there will be no women left in homes to serve food to men, pointing at the large scale of about 30000 women employed in various firms including in the Falcon Mobiles that alone engaging about 12,000 women drawn from 15 mandals, underlining the economic revolution silently sweeping the eastern Chittoor district following the success of Sri City.