KTR to keep battling Centre for funds, projects promised

Hyderabad: Industries minister K.T. Rama Rao exuded confidence that Telangana state would continue to grow irrespective of whether the Centre supports it or not.

Ahead of the Union Budget on Tuesday, Rao fumed at the Centre for neglecting Telangana when it came to sanction of funds and projects despite the state being the fourth largest contributor to the country’s economy. He said the AP Reorganisation Act promised special industrial incentives to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh but the Centre has done precious little in the last seven years.

"Whether or not we receive support from the Union government, we will continue to grow and do well, across all spheres. We will continue to raise our voice for justice and demand what is rightfully ours," Rao remarked.

"If you continue to ignore and overlook us because of ideological and political differences then it would be a great tragedy when it comes to boosting industrialisation and will come as a blow to ‘Make in India’ campaign and Atmanirbhar Bharat,” Rao said after signing a MoU with Drillmec SpA, a global rigs major, which announced an investment of Rs 1,500 crore in Telangana, on Monday.

"Special incentives for employment creation were promised to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. However, they have remained on paper. Though support from the Centre has been long-awaited, Telangana continued to grow due to its proactive industrial policy,"he said.

“Though a landlocked state and not a captive customer of Drillmec, the company choosing Telangana for its unit stands testimony to the K Chandrashekar Rao-led government’s astute governance,” he said.

“In the last seven-and-half years, we have been able to come up with path-breaking policies like TS-iPASS, which has set benchmarks for other states. It has propelled the pro-active and industry-friendly Telangana to the top in ‘ease of doing business’ rankings given by the Centre and the World Bank. In the seven years since the state’s formation, we have been able to attract many manufacturing companies, which was unthinkable in undivided Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

“Despite innumerable pleas, Telangana, like Andhra Pradesh, continues to wait for the Centre to honour its promises,” the minister said.

After launching India’s largest textile park, Kakatiya Mega Textile Park, the state is also set to launch Hyderabad Pharma City, which will be the world’s largest pharma cluster. These two manufacturing destinations have tremendous employment potential, he added.

"The Union government has been silent when we sought its support for these two. We sought support for the creation of six industrial corridors but that has also fallen on deaf ears. The Prime Minister keeps harping the ‘Saabka Saath, Saabka Vikas’ mantra but ignores a vibrant state like Telangana,” he said while reiterating his appeal to Modi to uphold promises made to the people, while presenting the Budget on Tuesday.