State is making investors run around to claim incentives.
Representational image
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is moving quickly to clear industrial approvals within two weeks as promised but falls flat in disbursing incentives to investors on time. The government has promised incentives like stamp duty waiver, power subsidy among others to the sector to attract investments, but is making investors run around offices to claim the incentives. An industry is eligible to claim these incentives from the government six months after launching of operations or beginning production.
Funds available with the industries department were sufficient to clear the previous arrears accumulated over the years in undivided AP. The TS government owed Rs 650 crore till September 2014. Though the government has sanctioned '650 crore in the State Budget last year, it could release only Rs 400 crore. The balance of Rs 250 crore have been passed on to this year. The industries department is now in the process of clearing the pending arrears.
In the meantime, another 2,500 applications claiming incentives have been submitted to the government, which are now lying with the department. With the department focussed on clearing previous arrears, the fresh applicants are running around offices of industries department in districts and the city for incentives. The industries on the other hand want the department to give priority for both previous and present arrears instead of clearing only previous arrears and keeping fresh arrears pending.
“While the government is releasing funds regularly, the problem is occurring at the disbursal stage. The department is focussed mainly on clearing previous arrears. With this, fresh applications are lying pending. This problem could be overcome if the department spends the funds proportionately on old and new arrears,” said V. Anil Reddy, president, Federation of Telangana and AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Industries minister Jupally Krishna Rao told this newspaper, “TS inherited arrears of Rs 650 crore from Undivided AP, thanks to the negligence of the previous Congress governments. The TS government is facing the financial burden of clearing these dues. Now that these dues have been cleared, we will address the fresh applications and clear all the dues soon.”
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
Next Story
