AP to pour Rs 65 crore into Lidcap

VIJAYAWADA: Social welfare minister Merugu Nagarjuna on Monday announced an allocation of Rs 65 crore for the leather industry, sharing plans on revamping the Leather Industries Development Corporation (Lidcap), consolidating lands and training skilled labour.

Holding a review of the Lidcap at the AP Secretariat, the minister said an action plan has been devised to maximise the use of all Lidcap lands and buildings, spread across 133.74 acres in   Vijayawada, Vennelavalasa in Srikakulam district, Adigoppula in Palnadu district, Yadavalli in Prakasam district, Rachapalli and Ralla Anantapur in Anantapur district, G. Kondur in Krishna district and Tirupati.

With all sites having buildings and sheds in place for training, a plan in this regard will be made soon, he said.

The minister said that two footwear manufacturing units sanctioned under the Centre’s PM Ajay Scheme would be set up at G. Konduru in Krishna and Yadavalli in Prakasam, at a cost of Rs 11.5 crore. He also shared plans to construct a training centre building at Autonagar.

As part of the action plan, two common footwear facilities would be constructed at Rs 10 crore and Rs 30 crore, constructing buildings at Rs 15 crore and developing existing structures at Rs 10 crore.

Nagarjuna said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was committed to developing Lidcap “in a big way”.