Gajuwaka’s cement unit plan raises a ‘dust’

It was another pleasant morning on September 5, 2025, for the residents of Andhra Pradesh Housing Board Colony (APHBC) in Pedagantyada, part of Ward 76 under the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). The residents as usual gathered at the colony’s committee hall at 6:30 a.m. for their daily newspaper reading session.

However, the atmosphere in the committee hall suddenly changed when P. Srinivas, a senior citizen, noticed an advertisement in a Telugu vernacular daily regarding an environmental public hearing scheduled for October 8, 2025, for the proposed Gangavaram Cement Grinding Unit of M/s Ambuja Cements Limited (of the Adani Group), with an investment of ₹1,000 crore.

Mr. Srinivas immediately shared the information with his neighbour Mr. Mohan Rao who was sitting beside him. Already struggling with breathing issues due to his age, Mr. Rao voiced concern about his worsening condition. Eventually, the news spread like wildfire through the residential colony and reached M. Srikanth, president of the APHBC Residents’ Welfare Association.

“Yes, the news has been giving us sleepless nights. As the proposed site is just 200 metres away, the residents have joined forces to oppose it in our area. We called for a meeting to discuss ways to oppose the cement unit as it will be detrimental to us,” said Mr. Srikanth.

The colony has a total of 1,256 Low Income Group (LIG) and Middle-Income Group (MIG) houses, across 64 acres, built in 1982–1984 during the tenure of the then Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, Mr. Srikanth stated.