The Gazetteers Department

Development of industries is conditioned by a multiplicity of factors which can be grouped as natural and external factors of production. The natural factors of production consist of minerals, means of power, fuel, water-supply, raw materials and labour. Under the external factors of production might be grouped capital, machinery, mechanical equipment, capital goods, power and transport facilities. The industrial potential of this district is considered here against the background of the availability of these factors of production.

Bhir cannot be described as an industrialised district. It is one of the industrially backward districts of Maharashtra. Whatever industries are in existence are small-scale factories They are mainly engaged in the processing of agricultural produce.

The sluggishness in industrial growth in Bhir district might be due to the. non-availability of minerals, raw materials required for manufacturing, means of power, capital, enterprising entrepreneurs and transport. facilities. Dearth of the requisite natural resources and industrial raw materials have deterred the growth of large-scale industries.

An appraisal of the industrial situation in the district is given in the following paragraphs.

The mineral resources in Bhir, as in the entire Marathwada region are meagre and consist mainly of building stones, zeolites, and material for the lapidary industry.

The absence of adequate power supply is one of the main reasons hampering industrial growth in this district. The existing; capacity of power generation is insufficient to meet the demand even for domestic consumption and the present industrial establishments. The hydro-electric power project on the Purna river envisages supply of power only to Parali-Vaijnath. The proposed Purna-Paras grid system may not be of much benefit to Bhir district except Parali-Vaijnath town and the surrounding villages. It is, therefore, necessary to step up the existing capacity of the local generating sets and to establish new thermal stations at convenient places in the district. Without electrification on a wider scale, industrialisation will not take any concrete shape in this district. It should be noted that electrification will give a spurt not only to industries but will also lead to agricultural prosperity. It will enable the agriculturists to draw water from the wells which, in turn, will help boosting up production of garden crops as also of wheat, rice, jowar and cotton. The cheaper irrigation, thus available, will not only reduce the cost of cultivation but will lead to diversification of the crop pattern.

Another very important factor which determines the growth of industries is the facility of transport and communications. The situation as regards transport facilities is not very satisfactory. During the early years of this century there were no constructed roads and no line of traffic fit for easy transport. Roads were just earthen tracks unsuitable for any automobile vehicle. Even bullock-cart traffic used to be adversely affected in the rainy season. The government under the then Nizam State never encouraged road building. The picture has changed to some extent during the last few years. A few state highways linking the important towns in this district with commercial centres such as Sholapur, Aurangabad, Jalna, Latur, Ahmadnagar, Poona and Nanded have been constructed.

Still the facilities of transport are quite inadequate. The two railway routes are not of much utility to the district as a whole, because they traverse only a part of Ambejogai tahsil. Their usefulness to industry is restricted further by the fact that the approach roads from other towns to the railway stations are not satisfactory and of good quality. Transport of industrial and commercial goods through railways always poses a problem.

The other factors conditioning industrial development are cither absent or unfavourable in the district. They are lack of skilled labour, industrial raw materials and circumstances leading to localisation of industries. The former princely rulers did not evince keen interest in developing the industrial potential. Consequently the district remained industrially backward like the other regions of Marathwada.

The prospects of industrial development in the near future are discussed below.

Extraction of cotton-seed oil which fetches handsome returns is a very prospective industry. A cotton-seed extraction factory can be developed at Bhir or at Parali-Vaijnath. A 60 tons per day cotton-seed processing plant [Master Plan for Industrialisation of Bombay State, Department of Industries. Government of Bombay, 1960.] would require an investment of about Rs. 25 lakhs inclusive of preparatory machinery and refinery of matching capacity. In case of a solvent extraction plant, additional cost of cotton-seed preparatory machinery and attendant non-recurring expenditure will be about Rs. 7 lakhs. Thus, the total capital requirement is estimated to be about Rs. 22 lakhs. Such a plant would employ about 70 to 80 persons.

Better quality and higher percentage of oil is obtainable if the seeds are decorticated before the extraction of oil. The hitters which are available after delinting of the seed is a valuable raw material for the manufacture of surgical cotton, gun-cotton, high grade paper and certain cellulose products. A composite factory for recovering linters, decorticating seeds for extraction of oil and refining Will, therefore, be more economic.

The agricultural resources available in the district can support small industries like cotton spinning, hydrogenation of groundnut oil, gul making and power-loom weaving. Small-scale engineering units as ancillary industries may not figure prominently. However, small steel re-rolling mills and workshops for the production of agricultural implements and pumping sets can be established at convenient places like Parali-Vaijnath and Bhir.