Vijayawada The Krishna Industrial Exhibition Society
Prior to 1975, exhibitions in Vijayawada were a rare activity. They were mostly found during major events like Krishna Pushkaram and private entrepreneurs used to organize them purely on commercial lines. In the year 1975 some enthusiastic small scale industrialists and businessmen planned to make exhibition an annual event and formed as a so
ciety. They registered under the name and style of The Krishna Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition Society, Vijayawada. The then District Collector KR Venu Gopal IAS was the chairman and industrialist Chalasani Dutt was appointed as the secretary. In the year 1976, soon after the society was formed, they felt the necessity of setting up a heavy industry in the region. AP Heavy Machinery and Engineering Limited thus established under the auspices of the district collector Santhanam IAS and Chalasani Dutt became managing director and chairman of APHMEL. Later it has become a government venture when APIDC joined it as a partner. The stone statue of Krishnaveni at Prakasam Barrage was sponsored by the exhibition society for Rs 1 lakh and it was designed by the then VUDA vice-chairman Venkata Ramana Reddy and was unveiled on the occasion of Krishna Pushkaram in the year 1980. During the next Krishna Pushkaram in the year 1992, the society developed the area around river Krishna as around river Krishna as Krishnaveni Pranganam spending another six lakh rupees. The Exhibition Society has started exclusive girls Polytechnic College in the year 1981 and a river valley civilization museum, the fifth of its kind in the world in the year 1992. Every year, they have been introducing new exhibits to promote science and technology, education, etc and no wonder it has been attracting large crowds.