Allaying apprehensions that the Congress government in Telangana will re-write policies, introduce new procedures and hold back permissions for ongoing projects, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on February 21 asserted that the Government is committed to work with investors and entrepreneurs as well as infrastructure developers.
“The government is ready to meet your requirements, provide clearances for [project] proposals... we are here to work with investors and entrepreneurs,” Mr. Reddy said, seeking to highlight how measures taken by previous Governments had contributed to growth of the State and Hyderabad emerging as an IT and pharma hub. He also sought to showcase the strategic and economic benefits the Outer Ring Road, the IT hub in and around Hitech City and the international airport are delivering.
“Our government has no hesitation in pursuing the good policy measures initiated by the previous regimes [in united Andhra Pradesh and subsequently Telangana] be that of Chandrababu Naidu, Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy or Chandrasekhar Rao,” he told a gathering of CII members, policy makers and educationists on the opening day of a two day conference on education and skill development CII Telangana and TDF USA are organising in Hyderabad.
The State government wants Telangana to compete with some of the fast developing countries. Towards this end, it prioritized development of infrastructure, education, especially skill development, and human resources. It is keen on soliciting the views as well as draw on the experience of CII members, he said, adding skill development of youth will be an integral part of the development approach.
The government is ready to develop 64 ITIs as skill development centres at the cost of ₹2,000 crore. Consultations with stakeholders are in progress to set up Skill Universities. The plan is to establish 10 such skill universities across the State for the benefit of rural youth. Discussions are also underway in the government to introduce policy amendments for awarding degrees instead of certificates to those those pursuing skill development programmes.
On industrial development, Mr. Revanth Reddy said economic development of the State is paramount for the Government but not at the cost of environment. Hence, the government has proposed to establish 12-15 pharma clusters or pharma villages in different locations each spread over 2,000-3,000 acres. Each will have a different anchor client, promote the concept of walk to work with other facilities such as housing as well as for education and healthcare integrated into the projects.
Unlike the Pharma City project envisaged on about 25,000-30,000 acres, by the previous government, the relatively smaller clusters will be more accountable from an environmental perspective, he said, while also inviting suggestions from industry on the 2050 Master Plan for Telangana that the government is planning.
Other proposals of the government for industrial development include setting up of dry ports and setting up a pharma cluster at the proposed NIMZ in Zaheerabad, he said, adding that as the State Assembly elections-2023 are over, the focus has shifted to development.
