KTR Flays Centre For Neglecting Telangana's Industries

Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao today hit out at the BJP-led Centre for "cheating" the two Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by not fulfilling the bifurcation promises made to them.

During today's budgetary discussions, Rao told the Assembly that the Centre had "failed miserably" to fulfil the promises made to Telangana in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (2014), and that it had not extended any support to the state for industrial development. He added that the Centre had not provided the TRS government adequate funds for development either.

"The Centre has not been able to honour an Act passed in 2014 even after having been in power for six-and-a-half years - it has deliberately ignored our problems. I would urge it to take the initiative to implement the promises outlined in the Act at least now. It should provide special incentives to the companies setting up shop in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh," he said.

The minister also ridiculed the Centre for claiming that it had shelled out Rs 20 lakh crore under its Aatma Nirbhar Bharat scheme to revive industrial growth in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and alleged, "Nobody seems to know where the much-hyped Aatma Nirbhar scheme's package went. Our state certainly has not received any benefits from it. A handful of street vendors did, however, receive loans up to Rs 10,000 each. The scheme has proven to be utterly useless for Telangana."

"It is our own government's TSiPASS that has been able to support and strengthen industry in the state. Through the program, we have secured investments worth Rs 2.13 lakh crore, and 15,326 industries have been able to establish themselves in our state. This has boosted both revenue and productivity, and has helped generate employment for many - 11,954 industries have already commenced their operations, and have employed more than 7 lakh people. Despite the lack of the support of the Centre, we have been able to become an industrial hub. Currently, we are working on expanding food processing units in a number of districts across Telangana as this will generate more employment," he added.