Industries Minister KTR urges NRIs to be part of Telangana’s development
Hyderabad: The infrastructure in more than 26,000 government schools in Telangana will be upgraded in three years, Industries and IT Minister KT Rama Rao said on Wednesday. Participating in a ‘meet and greet’ programme organised by the Indian American diaspora in San Jose in the US, he urged the NRI community to come up with […]
Hyderabad: The infrastructure in more than 26,000 government schools in Telangana will be upgraded in three years, Industries and IT Minister KT Rama Rao said on Wednesday.
Participating in a ‘meet and greet’ programme organised by the Indian American diaspora in San Jose in the US, he urged the NRI community to come up with ways to give back to the society. “It could be in the form of upgrading schools, buildings, libraries or companies to create employment. These acts will inspire others for a lasting impact,” he said, and urged them to support the ‘Mana Ooru Mana Badi’ programme of the State government, but hurried to add that the government, however, was not totally dependent only on donations for this.
Terming Telangana as the most successful startup, he said the government focused on addressing basic issues like power and drinking water. It implemented the 3I mantra- Innovation, Infrastructure and Inclusivity – for all round development.
“The State earlier had seen power holidays. The installed capacity in 2014 was about 7,000 MW while the demand was about 9,000 MW. Today, the installed capacity in the State is about 16,000 MW and out of that, solar power accounts for about 5,000 MW,” Rama Rao said, adding that the State focused on short term purchases as well as augmenting its own capacity.
Telangana, the Minister said, also spent about $ seven billion (about Rs 50,000 crore) in strengthening the drinking water supply infra. The State also disrupted the irrigation segment by conceiving, designing and constructing the world’s largest lift irrigation project – Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Scheme – in a record four years. “The project has now turned into a lifeline for the State to support agriculture and industry simultaneously,” he said.
The agriculture produce in the State had increased significantly and it had overtaken Punjab in paddy production, Rama Rao said. “The State is now the granary of the country. The share of agriculture to the GSDP increased to 21 per cent from the earlier 16 per cent. The State forest cover is nearing the ideal 33 per cent of the total area. It is now more than 31 per cent, up from 24 per cent earlier through the State’s flagship programme Haritha Haram,” he said. About 240 crore saplings have been planted under this programme, he added.
Telangana, which has just 2.5 per cent of the country’s population, was contributing about five per cent to the country’s GDP. The per capita income in the State now is about Rs 2.78 lakh, a 130 per cent increase from Rs 1.24 lakh seven years ago. The GSDP of Telangana now is about Rs 11.54 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.9 lakh crore when the State was formed.
On the industrial front, Telangana has brought out India’s most efficient single window clearance system in the form of TS-iPASS. It has given approvals to about 19,000 proposals with an investment potential of more than Rs 2.3 lakh crore. These have a potential to create 16 lakh employment opportunities and more than 80 per cent of the proposals are already operational, he said.
The IT exports were Rs 57,000 crore in 2014 and have now crossed Rs 1.45 lakh crore. He urged the prospective investors to look beyond the western side of the city within Hyderabad. These areas have good infrastructure and the cost of living is relatively lower. He also urged them to look at Tier 2 cities for expanding or starting new ventures. The State has set a target of creating 15,000 jobs in the IT segment in Tier 2 cities, Rama Rao said.
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