Chukkapalli Kusalava: self-made entrepreneur

he started his industrial activity with just Rs 30 lakh and now his family is heading an organization worth nearly Rs 300 crore. The family runs a school, industrial training center and hospital for their staff and their children On the occasion of The Hans India presenting SME Excellency Awards on its second anniversary, it is fitting that the services rendered by Chukkapalli Kusalava of Vijayawada in this direction are given due recognition. On July 7, he was presented with Muthavarapu Venkateswara Rao Memorial Award for his exceptional entrepreneurial spirit in starting an industry on Vijayawada way back six decades ago in a very humble way and developing it into its present position, highly commended in industrial circles. For those who are being honoured on July 15 by The Hans India, his life and steady growth and spectacular achievements should serve as a guide for scaling still greater heights in their chosen fields of enterprise. Andhra Nataka Kala Samithi, founded in 1965 by Karnati Lakshminarasaiah (known as 'people's actor'), who has done yeoman service for protection and promotion of folk arts, has been honouring eminent persons from different fields. Last year, Chief Editor of The Hans India, K Ramachandra Murthy, was honoured for excellence in journalism. Honorary president Dr K Pattabhiramaiah presided over this year's function and president of Siddhartha Academy Nalluri Venkateswarlu, chief guest, paid rich tributes to the services of Kusalava in various social and cultural activities with a spirit of dedication. Muthavarapu Muralikrishna, president, Andhra Chamber of Commerce, presented the award given in the name of his father Venkateswara Rao, a popular industrialist of varied interests. Born on November 1, 1924, in a small village Kancharlapalem near Tenali in an agricultural family, Kusalava lost his father in his sixth year and discontinued studies in his Class IV. As agriculture was not of much help to him, he took up lorry transport and entered the field as an automobile part dealer in a small way and shifted to Vijayawada in 1950 with almost nothing except his own self-confidence and abilities for hard work. He struggled his way up step by step and earned name as a person of high integrity and rectitude. At a very young age he was attracted to the Leftist ideology and even while rising high as an industrialist he retained his concern for the deprived and downtrodden sections which was reflected in all that he had done in life subsequently. As it was pointed out at the meeting, he started his industrial activity with just Rs 30 lakh and now his family is heading an organization worth nearly Rs 300 crore. The family runs a school, industrial training center and hospital for their staff and their children. He was associated with the starting of a home for the aged which is doing excellent service for the deserving. He is well-informed on political issues but has his own firm views on which he refuses to compromise even to this day, no matter in whatever direction the world is heading, politically and technologically, with far-reaching consequences. Dressed in immaculate white shirt and dhoti, he is a quintessential 'Telugu Bidda' in every respect.

Vijayawada-Guntur as capital With the day of reckoning on Telangana issue drawing closer, there are several options coming up for discussion in the three regions in a very pronounced way. In this context, a very senior journalist and a protagonist of separate Andhra, G V Ramprasad, has come out very clearly in his latest pamphlet on the subject that the best solution would be to form Andhra State, good if Rayalaseema chooses to join it or else it shall be three States. His main concern is for the neglected Andhra region over the past several decades, dumping all the available resources on the development of Hyderabad and suburbs. It is not too late to correct the injustice meted out to this area. He says that if Wanchoo Committee report had been accepted Vijayawada-Guntur would have been the capital of the State even in 1953. Whatever reasons he had given in the report then holds good even now. Ramprasad rejects the suggestion that Ongole can be the capital as there is vast government land available there. He says that it is ideal for developing it as an industrial park with subsidies for 10 years from the State and the Centre to develop it. But he rejects the contention that Vijayawada-Guntur region is without adequate land for developing it as capital. Has not Tamil Nadu got its secretariat on a 50-acre site? How much land is required for the Assembly building and MLAs' quarters? Is not WTO building in the USA where thousands of employees work situated in just 20 acres? He contends that here farmers are ready to part with their lands for this purpose on 60:40 basis. It is centrally located; 250 express trains pass through it connecting north and south. It has an important national highway connecting Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. There are several other advantages which could make it an ideal capital area if and when the State is bifurcated or trifurcated, he contends.