Centre hasn't responded positively to our requests on industries: Telangana Minister

Hyderabad, Sep 27 (PTI): The NDA government at the Centre has not responded positively to Telangana's requests for help in the industries sector during the last seven years, besides not taking measures to realise the assurances given to State in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, State IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao alleged on Monday.

Rama Rao, who spoke in the Legislative Assembly on progress of industries and IT sectors in the State, said the Centre has not responded positively to the State government's various requests for help, including in setting up five industrial corridors, establishing a 'pharma city' and an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR).

Those related to industries mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act, including steel factory at Bayyaram in the State and rail coach factory at Warangal, have not been realised, he said.

The Centre has also not acceded to the request to re-open a Cement Corporation of India (CCI) unit in the State though the State government offered to make an investment, he claimed.

The Centre was not ready for investment but showed interest in disinvestment, he said.

''If I have to put it in one word, our slogan is 'start-up', Centre's slogan is 'pack up','' he said.

The Centre aims at a target of Rs six lakh crore through disinvestment, while the BJP in Telangana talked about organising protests against the State government for not filling up vacancies, he said.

He asked whether private players would implement reservations after disinvestment is carried out in PSUs.

While the BJP made an issue about 50,000 job vacancies in Telangana, there are about 8,32,000 job vacancies in the Centre, he said.

Rama Rao, who spoke extensively on the issue, said the State has achieved giant strides in industries and IT sector.

He said the RBI has recently released a report which stated that Telangana is the fourth largest contributor to the country's economy.

He said over 19 lakh direct employment avenues have been created by the State IT and industries departments during the last seven years.