Autonagar all set to drive on the path to glory

The Vijayawada Jawahar Autonagar, the biggest auto township in south Asia which has been in a state of neglect thanks to apathy of successive governments, is set to witness some development.

The Automobile Technicians' Association (ATA) of the township has embarked on a Rs 57.23 crore ambitious plan to develop complete infrastructure including a modern auto testing laboratory and other basic amenities in Autonagar and the adjoining industrial estate.

The township, set up in 1964, is spread over 275 acres, while the industrial estate is located on a 55-acre land.

The Rs 57.23-crore new scheme envisages allocation of Rs 12.80 crore for concrete roads and pavements, Rs 5.5 crore for storm water drains, Rs 8.06 crore for drinking water supply, Rs 6.5 crore for sewage network, Rs 4.4 crore for power supply, Rs 6 crore for environmental protection and common testing laboratory for quality improving, Rs 2.5 crore for a HRD skill development institute, Rs 4 crore for information technology support centre etc.

ATA has earlier on its own successfully undertook expansion of Autonagar in an additional 115.94 acres in the near-by Kanur village.

The success has emboldened it to take up the present venture. ATA office-bearers Abdul Azeez (president) V Rajendra Prasd (secretary) and P Surendra Rao (treasurer) said they were striving to get Rs 42.85 crore grant under the central industries cluster development programme.

The remaining Rs 14.37 crore would be borne by the implementing agency, the Vijayawada Auto Cluster Development Company Limited (VACDCL) formed by ATA.

Autonagar sees around Rs 600 crore worth sales, repairs and services evey year. It houses about 8,000 auto units and industries, provides employment to over a lakh artisans and workers. The Kanur autonagar, being developed with an outlay of around Rs 80 crore, is expected to provide jobs to 50,000 people.

ATA president Abdul Azeez said: "Entrepreneurs of Autonagar pay to the Vijayawada Corporation taxes worth Rs 1.25 crore every year. Nothing good happens to us. We don't know what happened to the development fund of Rs 60 lakh we had paid to the corporation. The government released Rs 8 crore grants exclusively for infrastructure development in Autonagar. The corporation spent a meagre part of it on Autonagar and diverted bulk of the fund to other works." he said.

" Frustrated, we took to roads and organised a number of agitations over a period... These developments led to sanction of autonomous status for Autonagar under which 65 per cent of the taxes it pays will be spent for its development only. To spend this amount another body called the APIIC Industrial Areas Local Authority (AIALA), covering the auto nagar and the industrial estate, was constituted. Now the AIALA has Rs 60 lakh under its control. The authority, in right earnest, has been executing roads and lighting works in the auto nagar for the last six months," he added.

Autonagar is located in the most polluted part of Vijayawada. Groundwater is polluted with kerosene, diesel and grease. Bereft of roads, drainage, drinking water supply and adequate power supply, Autonagar is also notorious for sale of duplicate auto spare parts sourced from Delhi, child labour, alarmingly increasing AIDS cases etc.

Unorganised workers are paid paltry wages, while organised workers earn Rs 300-400 each per day. It is learnt that to become a licensed hamali in Autonagar, one would have to the powers-that-be around Rs 1 lakh. It would cost about Rs 2 lakh to become a coolie 'maestry'.