Hyderabad: Industry Minister KT Rama Rao accused the center of shoving Telangana cold-shouldered with regard to industrial and infrastructure projects. Despite little help from the government of India, Telangana contributed five percent of the country’s GDP, he said.
“Telangana beats above his weight. Our population may be small, but our heart is big and that is why we continue to contribute and inspire the nation with our progressive policies. “TS-iPASS was launched in the state seven years ago and the Government of India has now finally decided to introduce a single-window system,” he said at the Manufacturing Excellence event hosted by industry body CII.
Industrial corridors
“A performing state like Telangana must be encouraged. We requested industrial corridors between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Nagpur, Warangal and Vijayawada. “None of the requests were complied with,” he said.
“Telangana contributes to nation building. The taxes we pay help to improve the infrastructure in UP, Gujarat and Bihar. Not even half of the tax Telangana pays comes back to the state. GOI must review and fully respect the commitments they have made to Telangana and our sister state Andhra Pradesh, ”he said of the promise to provide incentives to all new industries emerging in TS and AP.
Mega-clusters
“The Pharma City is 19 000 acres and Kakatiya Textile Park 1 200 acres. We have called for support for this to ensure that the independent India campaign is translated into action, ”he said, adding that Telangana had many times represented the Center for the ITIR, which was approved before 2014. “The Center has scrapped the ITIR and there is no contingency plan. “They have no idea what needs to be done to ensure that IT continues to grow at the same rate at which it is growing,” the Minister expressed his anger.
No relief
Although the center has announced financial packages worth Rs 20 lakh crore for the businesses to get out of the Covid impact, they remained largely on paper and did not help the MSMEs at grassroots level, he said, adding that the packages should help businesses create more prosperity and jobs. Also, the production-linked incentives that were announced did not help the MSMEs in Telangana either, he said.
No new institutions at national level were approved for Telangana, which applied for, among others, an IIM, a National Institute of Design, an IIIT at Karimnagar, new medical colleges and a tribal university. “It seems as if nothing is coming to Telangana. “Even a bullet train will only travel between Delhi and Mumbai via Gujarat and will not find its way to any part of South India, I do not know why,” he said.
Investment magnet
Telangana attracts investments worth Rs 2.2 lakh crore that have created jobs for more than 16 lakh people. Even during the Covid, Companies like Goldman Sachs, Kitex, Premier Energies, Gloucester, Gokuldas Images, Integrated Gas Technologies, Pokarna Engineered Stone, Triton, Ivanti, Malabar Gold, and several others have chosen Telangana for their investments.
Source: Telangana Today