Centre’s ‘Becho India’ scheme to sell PSUs: KTR
Hyderabad: Industries Minister K T Rama Rao said on Thursday that the Central government appears to have come up with a new policy – ‘Becho India’ – to sell Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in the country. “People of Andhra Pradesh are already up in arms and have launched an agitation with the slogan ‘Visakha Ukku […]
Hyderabad: Industries Minister K T Rama Rao said on Thursday that the Central government appears to have come up with a new policy – ‘Becho India’ – to sell Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in the country.
“People of Andhra Pradesh are already up in arms and have launched an agitation with the slogan ‘Visakha Ukku Andhrula Hakku’ against the privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP). People in Telangana too should be on high alert since the Centre might attempt to sell the profit-making Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), which recorded the highest Plant Load Factor (PLF) in the country,” the Minister said, adding that SCCL always strove for the welfare of its employees and bonuses were given to them accordingly.
Participating in the general discussion on budget in the State Assembly here, Rama Rao said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting allocation of four coal blocks to SCCL to enable the company work more effectively, and in the process, extend benefits to the employees.
Explaining in detail the discrimination meted out by the Centre towards Telangana, Rama Rao said the Central government identified National Investment Manufacturing Zones (NIMZ) in Zaheerabad and Pharma City on the city suburbs. “We expected the Centre to allocate additional funds for the two NIMZs. Surprisingly, it allocated only Rs.3 crore for the NIMZ in Zaheerabad and Rs.5 crore for NIMZ at Pharma City,” he said.
The Centre, he said, was coming up with various slogans such as Make-in-India, Atma Nirbhar Bharat and ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Viswas’ among others. Under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Centre announced a package of Rs.20 lakh crore. “We were happy with the announcement. But we did not get a single paisa,” Rama Rao said.
He said Telangana was the 11th largest State in terms of geography and 12th largest State in terms of population but was the fourth largest contributor to the Indian economy.
The Centre always spoke about cooperative federalism and Team India but it ignored the pleas of Telangana to set up industrial corridors between Hyderabad-Warangal, Hyderabad-Nagpur, Hyderabad-Vijayawada and Hyderabad-Bengaluru along with a defence corridor.
Stating that the Centre did not give a single paisa for Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal, Rama Rao said as many as 19,145 applications were cleared through TS-iPASS enabling industrialists set up industries in a hassle-free manner.
“Over 16.45 lakh people got jobs in these industries. If any member in the House has a doubt on it, we are ready to provide all the details to them,” he said, adding that the industrial sector played a crucial role in the development of the State.
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