Ranga Reddy Dist

Brief about Rangareddy District

Profile : Ranga Reddy District was formed on 15th August, 1978 by carving out some portion of Hyderabad Urban Taluk & the merger of the entire Rural and Urban Areas of the remaining Taluks of Erstwhile Hyderabad District.

This District is primarily the Rural hinterland for Hyderabad City feeding the powerful commercial Centre with various Raw Materials, agriculture produce and fininshed products.

Origin of the Name : The Name of the District was Hyderabad (Rural) to begin with. It was changed as K.V. Ranga Reddy District and later on Ranga Reddy District.

It was named after Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Sri K.V. Ranga Reddy.

Location : The District is located in the Central Part of the Deccan Plateau and lies between 160 30' and 180 20' of North Latitude and 77030' and 79030' of East Longitudes.

Boundaries : The District is bounded on the North by Medak District, East by Nalgonda District, South by Mahaboobnagar District, West by Gulbarga District & North West of Bidar District of Karnataka State. It covers an area of 7564.88 Sq. Kms.

History : Ranga Reddy District is at the cross roads of India geographically, historically and has been the meeting ground for the fusion of various civilisations, religions, races, cultures, languages and traditions with the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad as its core.

This District including present Hyderabad Urban District was formerly known as Atrafe- Balda District and was a part of the gulshanabad, Medak Division (Subah). In 1931-34 Baghat taluk from Atraf-e-Balda District. was made a separate Baghat District under the Commissioner (Subedar) of Medak Division. After police Action in 1948., Atraf-a-Balda and Baghat District were merged to from the Hyderabad District. Later in 1978, it was split into Hyderabad Urban District and Hyderabad Rural District or Ranga Reddy District.

Administrative Divisions : Prior to 25-5-1985, the District was administered with 3 Revenue Divisions and 11 taluks . These Taluks had been further sub-divided into 42 Firkas, Each of which in turn consists of a Number of Villages.

However 11 erstwhile Taluks were delimited into 10 Panchayat Samithis, almost coterminus with the taluks except for a few minor changes in respect of Medchal, Hayathnagar, Ibrahimpatnam, Maheshwaram and Rajendranagar Taluks.

RIVERS : The District can be divided into three broad basins. A major part (about 65 percent) of the District is covered by the Musi River Basin. which rises in Ananthagiri Hills. It flows from West to East, pass through Hyderabad city and flows towards Nalgonda District within the limits of which it joins the Krishna River near Wadapalli (Wazirabad)

.Use of water for irrigation purposes from Musi has however, been banned because of the rights created for Hyderabad City water supply in the shape of Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar for drinking water and irrigation rights to Musi projects in Nalgonda District.

A reservoir called Osmansagar across the Musi and another called Himayathsagar across the Eisa river. a tributory of the Musi are situated at a distance of 19.31 and 9.66 Kms. respectively from Hyderabad.

The next largest basin in the District is the Kagna Basin, a tributory of Bhima River and all new irrigation projects are proposed in this basin. There is good potential in this which can irrigate large areas. This potential is not, however, fully exploited. The third basin in the District is the Manjira basin, which is part of the Godavari basin where the area under irrigation is very limited.

FOREST AND FAUNA :

FORESTS : The District cannot boast of any important timber yielding forests. This is because of the low rainfall and inhospitable soil conditions.

The inferior type of forests (from economic point of view) yield only thorn, fuel and small timber which the soil can sustain. In the Eastern portion of the District the forests are mostly restricted to isolated hills while in the western portion, they are confined to the slopes of the hillocks and plateau.

The Forest area of the District forms about 7.63% of the total geographical area. The situation of the state Capital in the midst of the District and the high density of population have great bearing on the development of these forests in the District. The forests have therefore, receded and generally restricted to hills and slopes where in plough cannot work easily.

Fauna : It is on record that, in 1900s the District with its low shrubby jungles was the home of leopards, bears, heynnans and occassionally tigers while in the more opened plains the entelope were in plenty. The game reserves for the ruling family in the erst-while Hyderabad State and were stocked with them for the exclusive enjoyment of the nobles.

Now the forests have receded into narrow pockets and so also the game. Blackbuck, Chital or Spotted deer and Samber can still be seen in Rasanam (Rasanam), Dharur (Gingurthi) Tattepalli, Nagulpalle and Thirumalapur (Thirmapur), Gokafeasalwar (Rangampally) Naskal Forest blocks, Wildboar is found all over the forests. Jackal and fox are common even now in the open. So also Peacock, our National bird and jungle fowl are seen in Ananthagiri block. Patridges and wild pigeons are common, In the cold season, wild duck, gease, teal and snipe can be seen in the small and large tanks of the District.

CLIMATE : The Climate of the District is characterised by a hot Summer and is generally dry except during the South west mansoon season. The year may be divided into four seasons. March to May is the Summer season, June to September constitutes the South West monsoon season, October to December form the North East monsoon season and January to February is the Winter season.

RAIN-FALL : The District has a normal Rainfall of 781.5 MM. the bulk of which is received through the South West Monsoon during the period from June to September. The Actual Rainfall received during the year 2003-2004 is 885.7 mm.

TEMPERATURE : The records at the Meteorological observatory station located in Hyderabad at Begumpet. It is representative of the meteorological conditions prevailing in the District. The mean maximum temperature begins to raise from the middle of February and reaches a maximum of about 300C in May. With the onset of the south-West monsoon into the District early in June, there is appreciable drop in temperatures and the weather becomes more pleasant. In the beginning of November, the decrease in both the day and night temperature is rapid. December is the coldest month with the mean daily maximum temperature at 28.60 C( 83.80F) and the mean daily minimum Temperature at 13.60C(56.50F).

F The highest maximum temperature recorded at Begumpet was 44.40C (111.90F) on the 28th May, 1985.

F The lowest minimum was 6.10C (43.00F) on the 8th January, 1946.

HUMIDITY : During the South-West monsoon season the relative humidities are generally high, ranging between 70 and 80 percent on the average. Humidity decreases from the post-monsoon season onwards. The driest part of the year is the Summer season when the humidity is generally between 30 and 35 percent in the afternoon.

WINDS : Winds are generally light to moderate with some increase in force during May and South West monsoon season. During the post-monsoon season winds are light and variable in direction in the mornings and mostly North easternly in the afternoons. During the later half of the cold season and in March & April morning winds continue to be light and variable in direction, while the after-noon winds are being mostly easternly to South- Westernly. Winds from Westernly direction begin to blow from May and in the south West monsoon season winds are mainly from Western to North Westernly direction.

SPECIAL WEATHER PHENOMENA : Storms and depressions which originate in the Bay of Bengal during September and the post-monsoon months move in Westernly and North Westernly direction across the peninsula. Some of these depressions effect the weather over the District causing widespread to heavy rain and gustly winds. Thunder storms occur during Summer season and towards the end of the South West monsoon and early part of the post-monsoon seasons.

SOILS : Red soils predominate in the District followed by Black Cotton soils. The Mandals Where more than 50% of the villages have Red-Chelka soils as the predominate soils are Medchal. Shamirpet, Qutubllapur, Keesara, Hayathnagar, Saroornagar, Uppal, Ghatkesar, Rajendranagar, Pargi, Doma, Shamshabad, Serilingampally, Malkajgiri, Balanagar, Kulkacherla and Gandeed. Dubba soils are largely found in ibrahimpatnam, Manchal, Yacharam, Maheshwaram and Kandukur mandals besides Red Chelka soils. The mandals where the soils are pre dominently black are Chevella, Shahbad, Vikarabad, Newabpet, Dharur, Pudur, Tandur, Peddemul, Yalal, Basheerbad, Marpally, Mominpet and Bantararm.

MINERALS : In this District, quartz and felspar are the principal minerals. The extensively exploited quartz veins are in the Mandals of Medchal, Maheshwaram, Rajendranagar, Malkajgiri and Pargi and the Felspar, the 2nd principal Mineral is also available in the mandals of Medchal, Hayathnagar, Maheshwaram, Rajendranagar and Malkajgiri around the District Head quarters. Puller earth is also available in Chevella, Vikarabad and Tandur Mandals.

Lime Stone is available mostly in Tandur and Marpally Mandals. In Tandur Mandal, quarries of Lime Stone are extensively developed and the lime is sold locally. Lime Kanker is also available in the villages of Ibrahimpatnam Mandal and it is used as Lime Mortar for building purposes. Clays of different type are also available in Tandur area and these are presently being used in the ceramic Industry.

Animal Husbandry: Apart from the production of Milk and Meat, the Cattle in the District are used as drought power in Agriculture and it is an allied activity to Agriculture. As per the Livestock Census 1999 the District has livestock population of 10.96 lakhs and poultry population of 95.27 Lakhs.

Cropping Pattern : The variation is the fertility of the soils is the main cause for the difference in the cropping pattern of the eastern and western regions in the District. While white sandy loams occur in the eastern region (Hayathnagar and Ibrahimpatnam), Black cotton soils predominate the western region(Chevella, Pargi, Vikarabad, Marpally and Tandur).The principal crops of the District are jowar, Paddy, Ragi, Castor and pulses. Food crops account for 83.1% and the non foodcrops for 16.9% to the gross area sown in the District. Grape cultivation makes the District occupy the distinct place in the state.

Irrigation : Gross irrigated area in 2003-2004 is 180080 acres which form only 25.01% of the gross cropped area. Though, two good rivers traverse the District there are no irrigation projects. River Musi rounds through the District untapped for irrigation until it feeds the Himayatsagar and Osmanasagar tanks mainly for drinking water purpose.

However the waters of Kagna have been utilised by a medium project known as Kotpally project. Which has an ayacut of 3,726 Hec. in Vikarabad, Marpally and Tandur Mandals. The Navandgi irrigation Scheme also on the river Kanga (Tandur area) irrigated about 550 acres. That part inderched and Gangavarm Lift irrigation Schemes also irrigate some area in this part. The ayacut at Kokat would irrigate 1700 acres in this District. Through there are other medium projects like Juntupally (Tandur area) Kotpally (Marpally, Vikarabad and Tandur) and Laknapur (Pargi and Dharur Mandals) they irrigate only a limited area and as such, wells form the principal source of irrigation in the District. An estimated number of (40,956) wells with pumpsets exist at present in the District with scope for many more.

Health & Medical Facilities : There are 18 Civil Hospitals in the District besides a T.B. Sanitorium at Anathagiri in Vikarabad Mandal, (12) Ayurvedic, (15) Unani and (7) Homeopathic dispensaries are functioning in the District.

INDUSTRIES : The Ranga Reddy District is playing an important role in the development of industries in the State because of its proximity to Hyderabad City. The District is in more advantageous position for setting up of industries as the location is nearer to the market and also the easy availability of required technical man-power. This District has a strong industrial base with public sector undertakings like BHEL (R&D), ECIL, IDPL,HCL, HAL, HMT Bearings and NFC etc.

LARGE & MEDIUM SCALE INDUSTRIES : There are 497 Large & Medium Scale Industries existing in the District with an investment of Rs. 9048 crores, providing an employment to 99,375 persons. Further another 12 units are under implementation with an investment of Rs. 150 crores and an employment potential to 8200 persons. These industries manufacture variety of Products like Steel, Telephones, Solar Photo Voltaic Modules, Computer Stationery, Polyester & Cotton Yarn, Tele Communivation Cables, Plastic Products, Cement, Automobile Components, Castings, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals and Jelly Filled/Optic Fibre Cables.

SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES : There are 23642 Small Scale Industries with an investment of Rs. 1920 Crores providing employment to 160120 persons. In small sector the products like fans & fan components, Welding Electrodes, Air Conditioners, Engineering Items, Wood & Furniture, Steel Re-rolling products, M.S. Ignodes, Extraction of oils, Corrugated Boxes, Battery equipment, Mineral Water, Plastic Products and Textile Printing.

NEW INDUSTRIAL PARKS : The following new industrial areas have been established for setting up of the Industrial Units in the District.
1) 141 Acres at Turkapally, Shamirpet Mandal for setting up of Bi-Technology Park
. 2) 316 Acres at Madhapur, Serilingampally Mandal for setting up of Information Technology Park.
3) 187 Acres at Gundlapochampally, Medchal Mandal setting up of Apparel Export Park.
4) 230 Acres at Mankhal, Maheshwaram Mandal.
5) 110 Acres at Turkapally, Shamirpet Mandal for setting up Knowledge park at ICICI.
6) 30 Acres at Gajularamaram for Lady Entreprenuers.