Hyderabad: Promising full government support to existing industries, IT companies and honest inve-stors, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday assured to formulate the country’s best industrial policy in Telangana and a new legislation to ensure quick single window clearances far superior than even Singapore.
Alleging gross misuse of lands and of huge tracts of lands allotted to companies lying idle in the united Andhra Pradesh, Mr Rao advi-sed new investors who have been allotted lands to ensure utilisation of every inch of land.
“We need genuine investors. Some are not real industrialists. They take the licence and sell it to others for monetary gain. One investor who got a power project 19 years ago failed to ground it. He came again and sought a licence. I told him on his face that I would not give the licence,” Mr Rao said.
He added that a new Telangana Electricity Regulatory Authority would be established soon and that the power crisis in the state would be reduced by next year with the addition of 2,000 MW of power.
He promised to make Telangana a power surplus state in the third year of his tenure and sought the industry’s help to develop the state and provide jobs to locals.
The government will also take steps to ens-ure that 25 per cent less tax was levied than neighbouring states besides studying the tax incentives provided to industries by them, he added.
The Chief Minister and other officials including chief secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma, principal secretary Narsinga Rao, senior officials Pradeep Cha-ndra, Jayesh Ranjan, Smitha Sabharwal and others interacted with representatives of industry associations for formulating the new industrial policy at ITC Kakatiya here on Tuesday.
Mr Rao also disclosed that the government had ordered a survey to ascertain availability of government land across Telangana.
“Our information is that we have 35 lakh acres of all kinds of lands, some of which are unfit for cultivation. Out of this 20 lakh acres are fit for industry, but infrastructure is needed. Right now we have three lakh acres for ready use,” he added.
“When you expect something from the government, the government, too, expects something from you. I request you to make best use of allotted lands and see that not an inch is wasted. You may take high-skilled workers globally, but ensure other jobs to locals. That’s my only request,” he said.
“My first task is to stabilise the existing industry in Hyderabad and surrounding places, the second priority is for expansion and third is the establishment of new industries. We don’t want to create a hype, we want to be realistic,” he explained.
Taking a dig at the Pollution Control Board norms and dubbing its thrice-a-month meetings as “rubbish”,
Mr Rao said that while all clearances for industries could be given in two weeks to 21 days, the PCB would take some time.
“I will personally monitor implementation of a new industrial policy and single window system for two years. We are quite ambitious. Hyderabad will flourish in software and hardware. We will ensure 24x7 power supply soon. You will have a real single window system,” he said.
Highlights
* Hyderabad to be made Pharma hub
* Establishment of new Telangana Electricity Regulatory Board
* 25 per cent less tax compared to neighbouring states
* Study of tax incentives in neighbouring states
* Government support to SC, ST, BC, minorities entrepreneurs besides small-scale industries
* Waiver of Rs 50 crore penalty on cotton, ginning mills
* New master plan for Hyderabad for implantation of ITIR project
* Single window cell in every district collectorate
* 2,000 MW additional power by next year
* Rs 300 crore for Dalit entrepreneurs
