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IN 1970, a poor man of RL (Rajupalem-Lakshmi) Puram got a marriage alliance fixed for his daughter and promised to pay a dowry of Rs.6,000. But all that he could mobilise was Rs.4,000 in cash. So he offered to sell 20 acres of the land in his possession at the rate of Rs.100 an acre in lieu of the balance amount. The bridegroom's father was furious. "What can I do with that rocky land," he shouted, and insisted that the dowry be paid in cash only. A local doctor took pity on the poor man and purchased the land to facilitate the wedding.
These 20 acres proved to be a veritable gold mine, fetching Rs.25 lakh an acre by 1990 when it was discovered that they formed part of the 1,000-acre land that yielded "Black Galaxy".
Another story doing the rounds is that several decades ago some Vedic scholars had gone to a local chieftain and impressed him with their knowledge. The chieftain and his wife granted them some land. The scholars settled on the land and named it after their benefactors Rajupalem and Lakshmi. The agraharis, or dwellers of the Brahmin colony, used most of the land except the rocky 1,000 acres. When the scholars chose the name "Lakshmi" for the village, little did they realise that the village would one day become synonymous with the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity.
As the land was lying barren, a tahsildar in 1959 proposed to declare it as assigned waste (AW) land. But seven Brahmin families applied for and got pattas for 300 acres of the rocky land in their possession. Some of them, however, surrendered the waste land under the Land Ceiling Act so that they could retain the arable land.
But the village munsif, Guda Venkateswarlu, chose to retain the rocky land and became the first person to venture into the granite industry.
Explaining the origin of the industry, Venkateswarlu said the rocks were used for all purposes: as building material and even grinding stones. When the rocks were cut, workers noticed some sparkle on the chips but did not realise their value until some Japanese businessmen visited Venkateswarlu in 1989 and inquired about the rocks. After examining the stone, he signed an agreement with the owner for sale of the granite. Venkateswarlu dispatched 200 cubic metres of the stone to Japan, which was the first consignment. It was called Indian Gold.
Venkateswarlu discontinued the business after two years as the Japanese stopped buying on the plea that only half of the consignment contained shining copper-coloured spots, and suspected foul play. The quarry owner ended up with a loss of Rs.70,000.
But some enterprising persons continued their efforts to exploit the potential and found out that the granite available in a nearby village, Chimakurthi, was unique in that it yielded the sparkle only when cut at a particular angle. It took them five years to learn that the sparkle appeared when the granite was cut horizontally and not vertically. The bronzite content in the stone gives the Chimakurthi granite its unique sparkle.
M. Venkateswara Rao
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