ONGOLE: Heavy rains due to Cyclone Michaung has paralysed the granite mining and affiliated industries at Chimakurthy and Gundlapalli Growth Centre, along with Martur and Ballikurava areas of Prakasam district.
Water stagnation at the granite quarries, lack of transportation and power disruptions has hampered the production for the past four days. Authorities estimated that the district has faced a total loss of over Rs 100 crore in the past four days due to the interruption in the granite production, processing and transport operations.
Speaking to TNIE, Gundlapalli Industrial Growth Centre (GIGC) member V Bhaktavatsalam said, “After Covid-19 pandemic, the granite industry in the district has been facing its worst phase. Now, the cyclone has made the situation even worse. There is a huge demand for the black galaxy granite in foreign market.”
“All the entrepreneurs are eagerly waiting for the government’s helping hand in the form of announced incentives and subsidy of electricity as early as possible”, Chimakurthy and District Galaxy Granite Industrialists Association leader K Sekhar Reddy said.
The Chimakurthy-Black Galaxy Granite is a unique granite variety and has a potential worldwide demand, especially in China, Taiwan, Egypt, Vietnam, Middle East and other European countries, besides the domestic market.
For a long time, through the seigniorage fee, the government is earning more than Rs 130 crore average revenue from all the 135 Granite quarry lease holders.But after the Covid-19 pandemic, the industry has been tasting losses as human resources were disturbed due to lockdown spells and following aftermath impacts.
Many of the Chimakurthy-Black Galaxy Granite quarries lease holders have decreased their production due to the increase in freight rates for the shipments which is a result of recession in the China market, further causing a significant decline in the revenues in the present fiscal.