Actress-turned-politician Reshma Rathore to fight for Bayyaram steel plant

WARANGAL: South Indian actress Reshma Rathore, who recently announced her entry into politics, declared that she would fight for the establishment of a steel factory in Bayyaram.  Ms Reshma said she would declare her political allegiance on April 14 and announced that she would contest from the Mahbubabad Parliament Constituency in the upcoming general elections.  Ms Reshma was born in Yellandu of Kothagudem district to Haridas Rathore, an executive officer in Singareni, and Radha Bai, an advocate in the Hyderabad High Court. Like her mother, she too graduated in law. 

Speaking to this newspaper, Ms Reshma said it was unfair on the part of the Central government to divert the steel factory that was to have been set up in Bayyaram of Mahbubabad district to Palvoncha. She said the Central government was not fulfilling the promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. “To compensate for the loss in the Palvoncha Sponge Iron Project by dive-rting the Bayyaram Steel Project is an injustice to the people of Yellandu and Bayyaram. The Cen-tre had planned to link the steel plant with iron ore mines in Bailadila in Chhattisgarh, to ensure that Bayyaram would have access to up to 170 million tonnes of raw material,” she said.

Ms Rathore pointed out that the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had studied the feasibility of establishing an integrated steel plant and found that the venture would be profitable to the state as well as the Centre.  “All the required resources are available near Bayyaram. There is coal in Yellandu and Dolomite in Madaram. Bailadila is just 155 km away, which makes transport easier. Taking all these facts into consideration, SAIL must withdraw its proposal to establish the steel plant in Palvoncha,” she said.  She said that the plant would directly and indirectly provide employment to thousands of people, especially the youth. She added that she would continue to fight for the cause in the future.