Known as second Mumbai for the amount of handloom business it witnesses, Proddutur still lags in development in various aspects. In a constituency where handloom weavers constitute a major part of the population, the government’s much-touted project to rescue the weavers from distress has remained a non-starter.
In 2005-06, the government took up an initiative to set up an Apparel Park and acquired 74.17 acre land at Gopavaram panchayat in Proddutur mandal through AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) for the same. Roads were also laid at a cost of `five crore. This is the only progress the project has seen since then.
The park was proposed to set up silk units, testing units other related units. The roads laid for the Apparel Park were damaged in due course of time and the entire land has now turned barren.
“If the Apparel Park had come up, some subsidiary units might have been set up and we would have got job opportunities,’’ O Baludu of Rameswaram in Proddutur said.
Another pressing problem in the constituency is that of water scarcity. As many as 16.7 MLD of water is required to cater to the 1.62 lakh people but the authorities have managed to supply only 12.3 MLD. No concrete plan has been devised over the years to address the issue.
Though the Pennar river flows nearby, the people of the constituency face water shortage. The authorities cater to the needs of the people on a temporary basis by getting a few tmcs of water from the Mylavaram reservoir.
In 2007, the Kundu-Pennar flood flow canal project was conceived and subsequently `70 crore was sanctioned for the same but due to lack of political will, the project has failed to take off.
Similar is the fate of the Yerraguntla-Nandyal railway line passing through Proddutur. A survey was done for the 126-km line in 1981 and works commenced in 1996-97 at a cost of `193.98 crore. But for unknown reasons the construction was stopped at Nossam.
Sitting MLA: Mallela Lingareddy
Party: Telugu Desam Party
Votes polled: 73,023
Margin of victory: 16,156
Runner-up: Nandyala Varadarajulu Reddy
Party: Congress
Votes polled: 56,867
Total electors: 2,04,221
Men: 98,438
Women: 1,05,783
Poll percentage: 76.99
Total votes polled: 214
No of contestants: 13
Men: 13
Women: 0
No of polling stations: 214
Avg per polling station: 954