KTR slams Opposition for tarnishing Hyderabad’s brand image

Hyderabad: IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday exposed the Opposition parties’ attempts to tarnish the brand image of Telangana especially Hyderabad in a bid to gain political mileage. He also tore into the BJP government at the Centre for not extending any support to Telangana’s development even as the BJP State leadership was busy spreading false propaganda by taking up walkathons (Padayatras) and organising protests alleging that the State government failed to provide government jobs.

Addressing the State Legislative Assembly during a short discussion on ‘progress of IT and Industrial sectors’ on Monday, Rama Rao said no country or State in the world can provide government jobs to more than five per cent population. “In Telangana, we have around 7-8 lakh government jobs against population of 4 crore which is two per cent. But scores of students are graduating from engineering, medical and other professional courses every year. It is impossible for the government to accommodate them in the public sector. Only private sector can provide more than 95 per cent jobs and we must attract investments for the same purpose,” he said.

He said the BJP leaders who were taking out walkathons, should first explain to the people of the State as to why the Centre was disinvesting in the Public Sector Undertakings and denying reservations in jobs to the weaker sections. He pointed out that there were 8.32 lakh vacancies in the Central government itself.

Slamming the Opposition leaders for narrowmindedness and irresponsible politics, the IT and Industries Minister said they were trying to mislead people and provocate them for political mileage. He said though the State government had not allocated any land to any company in the Hyderabad Pharma City project, the Congress leaders went to Ibrahimpatnam and tried to instigate farmers who gave up their lands for development of the Pharma City by stating that the State government took their lands for Rs 15 lakh per acre and sold them to pharma companies for Rs 2 crore per acre.

“Hyderabad Pharma City is not a project of State or national importance, but it is a project of international prominence. It will be the world’s largest pharma cluster. I request the Opposition parties to restrict the politics to elections and work together with the government for development of the State. They must act responsibly towards the State,” he added. He pointed out that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned to Hyderabad’s pharma industry when the world sought supply of vaccines and other drugs to combat Covid-19 pandemic. He said some leaders might claim that they have supplied the vaccines and had their photograph printed on the supplies, one cannot deny the fact that the drugs were made by industrialists, scientists and pharmacists from Telangana.

In response to BJP MLA T Raja Singh’s claims of the Centre’s continuous support to Telangana and the State government’s refusal to acknowledge the same, the IT and Industries Minister said the BJP government at the Centre, had not addressed any promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to start with. He said the Union government which promised to set up a Rail Coach factory in Warangal district under the AP Reorganisation Act, had shelved the proposal even though the Telangana government gave 150 acres of land in 2016 for setting up this factory. He pointed out that the Centre declared that there was no need for a new Rail Coach factory anywhere in the country, but had launched one such factory in Latur in 2018, in the wake of the Maharashtra elections.

Rama Rao said the BJP MPs from the State have not only failed to realise any promises made by the Centre under AP Reorganisation Act, but also failed to develop their own constituencies. He questioned as to why the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) was shelved which could have been beneficial to Secunderabad Parliamentary constituency. He demanded to know why BJP MPs could even get the Centre sanction IIIT in Karimnagar, Tribal University in Adilabad and Turmeric Board in Nizamabad.

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