Hyderabad: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Monday blamed the BJP-led central government for creating a “hindrance” in the growth of the state’s IT sector. TRS MPs in Delhi said that the Centre denied the Information Technology Investment Region(ITIR) project as promised to Telangana as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation.
TRS MPs demand that the Centre must compensate Telangana by agreeing to set up an equally viable project here. Speaking to media persons in New Delhi on Monday, Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddy said, “Instead of implementing its promise, the Centre had altogether scrapped it though the State government was willing to provide complete support. The decision has shattered the dreams of scores of youth aspiring for employment in the IT sector.”
The TRS MP also recalled that the proposal was taken up in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 2008 and also under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The issue has also been raised by Telangana IT minister and TRS working president KTR in the past.
Ranjith Reddy mentioned that despite the Centre’s lack of assistance, the Telangana administration promoted IT sector’s expansion. He said, “If the Centre supported Telangana by providing the ITIR project, Hyderabad would have outperformed all other cities in India. It had not only denied the ITIR project but did not sanction even one of the 25 software parks established in the country over the last eight years.”
TRS Rajya Sabha members Badugula Lingaiah Yadav and Vaddiraju Ravichandra accused the federal government of “putting obstacles” in the way of Telangana at every turn for political reasons. They said that the Centre refused to purchase paddy from Telangana due to irregularities. The Telangana MPs also said that money under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was withheld due to unapproved employment.
