Centre continues to ignore Telangana's welfare, never supported state's development: KTR

Hyderabad: Lashing against the Central government's "injustice" against Telangana, the state's minister for municipal administration and urban development on 5 March claimed that the Centre has never supported Telangana nor allotted any funds for the state's projects. KTR was speaking at the CII Telangana state annual meeting in Hyderabad.

Claiming that revolutionary policies like TS-iPASS have attracted major investments to the state, the minister said 15,000 companies were set up through this policy, creating about 15 lakh jobs in the region. TS-iPASS brought investments worth Rs. 2,00,000 crore to the state, he added.

"In the past six years, the Telangana government has received recognition from across the world for its innovative and progressive policies. Though many global companies from IT, pharma, life sciences, aerospace, and Defence sectors have invested in Telangana, the Centre has never encouraged the state," said KTR.

The TRS working president claimed that Union minister who visit the state praise the welfare and development activities of Telangana but never give funds. KTR further said that the state government has been approaching the Centre for funds, but to not avail.

KTR alleged that the BJP-led Central government has failed to fulfill the promises given to Telangana under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014. Promises made to Telangana such as setting up a steel plant, a railway coach factory, and educational institutions have been completely ignored, he added, alleging that the Centre once again demonstrated its opposition to Telangana when it announced that the establishment of the Kazipet railway coach factory, mentioned in the latest partition promises, was not even necessary.

The minister said the Centre was not responding to the state's requests to strengthen the railway network which is vital for industrial development. "The construction of eight railway lines is pending while the survey of another three lines is yet to begin. In addition, there is no response from the Centre to the proposals for four new railway lines. Telangana is missing from the bullet trains and high-speed railway networks that the Central government is boasting of," he said.

Regarding the ITIR project, KTR said the BJP-led NDA government has cancelled the project that was sanctioned before the formation of the state. This has stifled the growth of the IT industry, investments, and job creation, the minister said.

KTR also claimed that the Central government had not provided any assistance to the Hyderabad Pharma City project, the largest single pharma cluster. "The Centre did not respond to Telangana's repeated requests seeking Rs. 3,900 crore for Pharma City infrastructure. Instead of extending help to Pharma City, the Centre introduced a new scheme called Pharma Park Scheme which created an unnecessary competition among 19 states and wasted valuable time," he said.

Despite an excellent aerospace and defense ecosystem in Hyderabad, Telangana has not been allotted any of the Defense Industrial Corridors initiated by the Centre, KTR said, adding, "Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh, which has no ecosystem, has been given a defense corridor. This proves that the BJP government is giving priority to politics over industrial development. Repeated requests to allot the Defense Industrial Corridor to Telangana, which has all the infrastructure, are ignored."

The MAUD minister claimed that the Centre has not released any funds for Warangal Textile Park, one of the largest textile parks in the country, while it has turned a deaf ear to the state's request to set up a power loom cluster in Sircilla.