Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, the minister who holds important portfolios like Industries, IT, Mines and Municipal Administration, feels the Centre is biased against the States ruled by non-NDA parties. “I don’t think it is fair,” says the son of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in a free-wheeling interview with The Hindu . Edited excerpts:
Is the Centre helpful to Telangana?
They have not done anything out of the ordinary. Centre seemed more focused on DMIC (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor), whereas they don’t seem to have much focus on the South, be it Hyderabad, Bangalore or Chennai. Industrial corridors linking the metros in the South too have to be approved.
Incentives which are part of the A.P. Reorganisation Act, have not yet come about. Bayyaram steel plant was promised but not delivered. While Andhra Pradesh has got national project status for Polavaram, Telangana has not got a single such project in spite of our Chief Minister’s repeated requests. They have failed to notify the ITIR (information Technology Investment Region) too. I don’t think it is fair.
Do you think the Centre has a different attitude towards the States ruled by non-NDA parties?
Devolution of funds has been increased, therefore they are non-partisan, but certain bias is quite evident. I definitely believe that there is a certain bias, which is quite evident. An All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) promised to Telangana on the floor of the House by Arun Jaitley has not come. They merely given us our rightful share as a part of devolution.
In that case, do you have any plans to rope in your Karnataka and Tamil Nadu counterparts to take up the issue of the southern industrial corridor with the Centre?
The point I was trying to make is the Centre should think beyond DMIC. They launched a bullet train, which is again in the same corridor. It needs to think beyond the north as the south too has definitely made significant contributions to the country. If GOI doesn’t consider our plea then I will definitely urge our Chief Minister to take up the matter with his counterparts in the other States.
However, on the political front, the BJP seems to be having aggressive plans to expand its presence in the southern States. What do you say?
Well, no harm in dreaming. They continue to call themselves a national party despite they having minimal presence, except in Karnataka, in the four southern states. Technically, they are a national party going by the definition of the Election Commission of India, but so is the Communist Party of India, which has no presence whatsoever.
Has demonetisation affected the State’s economy?
It absolutely has. I think the overall expansion has definitely been impeded. SMEs suffered a bit, now, I think things are slowly coming back on track but it is because cash has come back into the system. There has been a certain setback for one quarter at least.
Has GST also impacted the State?
I definitely think so. Uncertainty over any transaction always affects and always impedes, slowing down the economy. The Centre might continue to say that they have been meeting their targets. I feel industry has certainly been affected and do hope they will bounce back.
Has securing the No. 1 rank in ease of doing business translated into flow of big ticket investments into the State ?
If you look at world over, there has been decrease in the overall industrial expansion and growth. Even in the national scenario, there is deceleration in industrial growth. But Hyderabad bucked the trend. Our growth rate has been the highest in the country in terms of economy and revenues. It is also shown in the Government of India’s statistics. On every parameter we are ahead. More than the big companies, SMEs have done well.
As Municipal Administration Minister what are your plans for Hyderabad in particular and Telangana in general?
Currently, we are executing projects worth over ₹ 25,000 crore in Hyderabad. On housing alone we are spending nearly ₹ 8,700 crore. On roads, as part of strategic road development plan, we are executing projects worth over ₹ 3,000 crore. All of them are underway and they will be coming to completion starting from the end of this year.
For Musi river front beautification ₹ 1565 crore has been allocated. HMWSSB is executing projects worth over ₹ 3,000 crore. Very soon, ground breaking ceremony will be done for a reservoir at Keshavapuram, Shamirpet. From 20 TMC reservoir, it got scaled down to 10.84 TMC at ₹ 5,000 crore to avoid large land acquisition.
For all municipal corporations, we have allocated separate funds.
Warangal gets about ₹ 300 crore every year and others ₹ 100 crore annually. For remaining municipalities and Nagara Panchayats we have created Telangana Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (TUFIDC), for which we have raised a loan of nearly ₹ 1500 crore.
We are going to set up a revolving fund kind of thing which advances a project loan to each and every municipality.
I am also proud that all 73 urban local bodies have achieved the distinction of being ODF with Quality Certification of India certifying 52 after inspection.
