Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy strongly pitched for investments in the State seeking to allay apprehensions about the bottlenecks in the form of power shortages.
The Chief Minister, who formally launched the tractor manufacturing facility of auto major Mahindra & Mahindra here on Wednesday, admitted that there was indeed a problem posed on account of shortage of power. Though the State had an additional installed capacity of 7,000 MW, there was no gas for generating power.
But the situation was likely to be overcome by July/August if there was good monsoon or before November if the seasonal conditions remained non-conducive. “We are confident of overcoming the problems which are temporary in nature,” the Chief Minister said.
Buying power expensive
Shortage of gas had forced the State to buy expensive power at Rs. 12 a unit and the government was exploring ways to provide this quantum free of cost to farmers.
The expenditure incurred on buying power, which amounted to Rs. 300 crore a month for the coming three months was in addition to the Rs. 5,500 crore subsidy being provided by the government to the farm sector.
He was hopeful that clearances accorded to 69 proposals received by the government to the tune of Rs. 1.33 lakh crore with a job potential of 1.48 lakh would materialise soon.
The State had already been selected for hosting some premier institutions like National Institute of Design (NID) and Pharmaceutical Education and Research Institution (PERI) and it had also been sanctioned two national investment and manufacturing zones.
Jobs for locals sought
Major Industries Minister J. Geetha Reddy said 21 units with an estimated investment of Rs. 20,000 crore were under different stages of execution. She wanted M&M to bring its ‘World City’ concept to Andhra Pradesh which offered a host of incentives.
In addition, the Minister requested the M&M management to consider giving 80 per cent jobs to local people, if need be, by training unskilled workers.
M&M chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra readily accepted the offer claiming he was prepared to join forces with the State in providing training and skill development to enhance the employability of youth.
