Centre silent on ITIR, says KTR

IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Monday accused the NDA government of keeping the ITIR (I T Investment Region) project, sanctioned to Hyderabad by the previous UPA government in cold storage.

Mr Rao said the TS government also doubts that the NDA government will fulfil the commitment set out in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, to construct the Bayyaram steel plant.

He said the Centre should take all states into confidence before bringing in the GST as there are concerns which are yet to be addressed.

“I have personally met Union ministers concerned nearly a dozen times in these three years, seeking funds for ITIR. But there has been no respo-nse. Whenever I meet them, the common answer I get is that the ITIR issue needs to be discussed in the Union Cabinet meeting first and only after that can they take a call on how to extend financial assistance. This has been going on for three years,” Mr Rao said.

He said that as soon as he was appointed IT minister in 2014, he went to Delhi and sought `3,600 crore for the ITIR project, “but they have not released any funds so far.”

The state government is taking all measures to ensure fast growth of the IT sector irrespective of whether ITIR comes or not, he added.

“We are setting up new IT parks and giving incentives for IT industries. The IT industry in Hyderabad has been growing faster than expected. We will maintain this growth rate irrespective of the ITIR project,” he said.

He also criticised the Centre for not constructing the SAIL steel plant in Bayyaram as promised in the bifurcation Act.

IT minister K T Rama Rao on Monday doubted if the NDA government would fulfil the commitment set out in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 for the construction of the Bayyaram steel plant.

“I have met present and previous Union steel ministers several times in Delhi regarding the steel project, but in vain. They say Bayyaram had no good quality iron-ore, which is required for the project. When a steel plant was established in Vizag decades ago in Undivided AP, which had no iron-ore, why can't the plant be set up in Bayyaram?” he said.

“We proposed transporting iron-ore from neighbouring Chhattisgarh by setting up a special railway corridor. But this proposal too has been ignored. We doubt whether NDA government will ever set up the Bayyaram steel plant,” Mr Rao said.