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Prior to 1930, the residents of Vizianagaram were faced with acute water crisis. The only sources of water were the domestic wells and the ‘Ayyakoneru’ (a small fresh water pond). At that time Andhra was part of the Madras Province. But after 1930 and since then the town never had any domestic water problem, thanks to Maharani Appalakondayamba. She was the sister of Maharaja Alaknarayana Gajapathi Raju and was married to the Rajah of Rewa estate in Madhya Pradesh. After the premature death of the Rajah without any heir, she returned to Vizianagaram with her valuables that consisted rare diamonds.

During a visit to Madras, she had noticed public taps and picked up the idea of having such a water system replicated in Vizianagaram. Upon return, she sold her jewellery and constructed a dam on the river Champavathi and provided water taps in every street.

To gratify her contribution a marble plaque with the inscriptions ‘Maharani Appalakondayamba water works’ was embedded on the concrete slab over the head of each tap. (Contributed by B.V. Ramamurty)

It was Tenneti Viswanadham who dreamt of a steel plant in Visakhapatnam. He took up the agitation very seriously during 1960s. He eventually lost his life because of the intense fast onto the death that he had taken up for the sanction of the steel plant. He coined the slogan – ‘Visakha Ukku, Andhrula Hakku" (Visakha Steel is the Right of the Andhra people).

The foundation stone for the plant was laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971. Located about 26 km. to the south of the Visakhapatnam city, the plant is housed on a sprawling 25,000 acres of land. The chief consultant of the plant was M.N. Dastur and Company and it was the first shore-based integrated plant in India. Its efficiency model was designed after the Pohang Steel Plant in Korea.

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