Cut out slogans, show some action: KTR to Centre

Minister slammed the Centre for its utter lack of support to Telangana State

Hyderabad: Launching a frontal attack on the BJP government at the Centre, IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao on Friday asked the Union government to cut out sloganeering and get into some real action on the ground to promote industrial development in the country.

“Atma Nirbhar Bharat, Make in India and other slogans are not happening anywhere as majority of the companies are only into assembling and not manufacturing. Let economics take over politics since the State Assembly elections are at least three years away. Work with the State government to translate intentions into action,” the Minister said, slamming the Centre for its utter lack of support to Telangana State.

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Rama Rao was addressing a conference on ‘T- NEXT: Reimagining and Catalyzing Growth for a Sustainable Tomorrow’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Telangana, on the occasion of its annual meeting here.

Stating that Telangana was a progressive State that has been encouraging business, Rama Rao said the government’s focus was on getting the job done. “But unfortunately, the kind of support we had expected from the Union government in the last six and half years has not come about. I want to use this platform to request the Centre to do a rethink on Telangana,” he said.

The Minister said Telangana attracted investments worth Rs 2.12 crore from nearly 15,000 companies which resulted in creation of about 15 lakh jobs so far. He stated that despite COVID-19 pandemic, the State made tremendous progress in key areas such as IT, pharma and life sciences, aerospace and defence, among others. “Telangana is not only ranked third in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings, but also has a robust GSDP growth in the country. But the Centre has failed to provide necessary assistance to a performing State like Telangana as well as a growing industry,” he said, and pointed out that Union Ministers and other officials were only appreciative of the State’s achievements on various platforms, but did little by was of supporting its growth so far.

“The Centre has not only failed to fulfill the promises made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, it also did not sanction any new project to encourage industrial development in the State.

Promises like railway coach factory at Kazipet, steel plant at Bayyaram and the most-anticipated Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) have all remained non-starters despite the State government’s offer to provide necessary land and other support,” he said, adding that the Centre was not even considering the repeated requests from the State government for infrastructure development which can be utilised to attract investments to the State.

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