VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, along with Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, inaugurated Grasim Industries Limited’s Chlor-Alkali manufacturing site at Balabhadrapuram in Biccavolu mandal of East Godavari district on Thursday.
Grasim’s Chlor-Alkali plant is the largest single-location manufacturing unit of caustic soda. Aditya Birla Group has invested Rs 1,000 crore on the plant initially. It plans to make a total investment of Rs 2,500 crore on the plant in three phases. The plant will provide direct and indirect employment to 2,450 people and of the total workforce, 75% will be locals.
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar Mangalam Birla expressed his delight over being able to have the presence of Birlas in the land of Godavari and said the Chlor-Alkali plant inauguration heralds a new beginning at the time when Grasim is celebrating its 75th anniversary. “It will further strengthen the bond of Aditya Birla Group with the entrepreneurial State of AP,” he said, describing it as an important milestone in the group’s chemical business.
The unit at Balabhadrapuram is the eighth manufacturing site of Chlor-Alakli of the group and has a potential to emerge as the single largest location of Chlor-Alakli production in the country with a capacity of 1,50,000 tonnes per annum, he said and added that given the scale of operation, he hopes to build a world-class chemicals ecosystem in the State what will have a multiplier effect on the local economy. It will also strengthen the east-west corridor for Chlor-Alkali business, he added.
Describing the Chlor-Alkali plant as yet another marker of Aditya Birla Group’s commitment to the State, its Chief Minister and people, Kumar Mangalam Birla said the State offers an attractive business environment for a wide range of businesses. “The long seacoast, multi-modal connectivity, proximity to demand clusters, availability of highly abled and highly qualified workforce and supporting administration make the State a very compelling destination for investments like this,” he said and added that he believed that the State has all that it takes to attract large and significant investments.
He said his group has invested $2 billion in the State across various businesses over the years. “Six of our group businesses have a significant presence in the State. Our cement business — UltraTech has two manufacturing units with a capacity of around 10 million tonnes per annum and our fashion retail business — Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited has 105 stores in the State. Just a few months ago, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the foundation stone for our garment manufacturing unit in Kadapa district, which will manufacture 8 million pieces annually besides generating substantial employment,” he said.
Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy described the day as a great day as a large production unit that generates significant employment has come up in Anaparthy Assembly constituency. “Grasim took over the ailing caustic soda manufacturing unit in 2019, which for nearly a decade had been facing problems. The previous TDP government gave its consent without resolving the problems and convincing people in the region, who had misapprehensions about the project. It was our government, which resolved the problems, convinced the management not to install captive thermal power plant, adopt zero liquid waste concept, go for electrolysis and other advanced technologies. By incorporating such measures, we succeeded in allying fears of locals and most importantly we convinced Birlas to provide 75% of jobs to locals,” he said.
Assuring complete cooperation from the State government, Jagan requested Kumar Mangalam Birla to become part of the State by becoming AP’s ambassador, thereby helping the State to get more investments. Jagan also hoped that with Grasim’s Chlor-Alkali manufacturing plant becoming a reality, subsidiary industries too will follow to make the coastal region industrially strong. Minister for Industries Gudivada Amarnath, Anaparthy MLA Satti Suryanarayana Reddy and others were present on the occasion.
Govt withdraws cases against agitators
The State government issued an order on Thursday withdrawing all the cases against 131 people who agitated against the project. At the same time, it assured the local people that alternative land will be acquired in three months to allot house site pattas to about 6,000 leftover housing scheme beneficiaries in Anaparthy and Biccavolu.