TS Govt Fudged TS-iPASS Figures On Industries and Jobs: RTI

HYDERABAD: Projects that existed before TS-iPASS’s introduction in 2015 and small units, such as flour mills and wielding units, that proposed to invest just Rs 1 lakh and generate two jobs, were included under TS-iPASS to boost figures of industries and jobs cleared under the system, an RTI query revealed.

Further, the government included proposed numbers instead of the ground reality for industries cleared under the TS-iPASS, the RTI petitioner said.

In the annual report for 2023, released in January, IT minister K.T. Rama Rao had claimed that TS-iPASS helped Telangana attract investments worth Rs 3.3 lakh crore, which resulted in the creation of over 22.5 lakh jobs.

The reply to the RTI, however, painted a contrasting picture.

To a query posed by NGO Forum for Good Governance on Rama Rao’s claim, the directorate of industries replied: “As on June 15, 2023, the proposed investment is Rs 2.67 lakh crore for 23,332 units. Data on the amount actually invested is not available with this office.”

On job creation, it replied, “As on June 15, 2023, the proposed employment is 17.82 lakh jobs. Data on actual appointments is not available with this office.”

These replies indicate that the figures on investments and jobs were only proposals.

FGG president M. Padmanabha Reddy said: “It appears the industries department is counting its chickens before the eggs are hatched. There is a wide variation between what the minister stated in press briefings and what the industries commissioner stated under RTI.”

He said that the RTI query revealed that the state government claimed projects such as Hyderabad Metro Rail, GMR International Airport, and Indian Oil Corporation, as approved under TS-iPASS, despite their existence much before TS-iPASS was introduced in 2015.

Citing the inclusion of GK Welding unit, which proposed Rs 1 lakh investment and two jobs, in the RTI reply, Reddy said there are several such units that proposed investment ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 crore and proposed creation of one to six jobs.

“Most of the so-called industries mentioned under TS-iPASS are flour mills, welding units, small engineering works, brick works, stone crushers, etc. These sundry activities do not need any elaborate clearances. It shows that this was done to boost TS-iPASS figures,” Reddy said.

It may be noted that the state government credited TS-iPASS for setting up Ramagundam Fertilisers, Yadadri and Bhadradri thermal power plants and Bharat Dynamics, which are public-sector units and do not need many clearances from the Government of India. “TS-iPASS has not much role to play in this,” Reddy said.

“FGG has examined the total list of 23,322 and found that to boost the achievements of TS-iPASS, many industries which are already existing or which are remotely connected to TS-iPASS clearance are included in industries cleared by TS-iPASS,” Reddy said.

He requested industries principal secretary Jayesh Ranjan to review the list and inform the Telangana public about the actual numbers, of industries and employment, created since the formation of Telangana in 2014.