HYDERABAD: After expressing open displeasure on imposition of GST on ongoing projects, TS has now wanted to know why there has been inordinate delay in releasing the promised financial assistance from Union government to the Hyderabad Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project, which was sanctioned way back in Sept 2013, by the then UPA government.
IT minister, KT Rama Rao, who had recently alleged that the Centre was depriving Telangana of the promised funds for the ITIR project, on Sunday shot a letter to the Union government seeking clarity on the continuation of the project in Hyderabad. “Lack of clarity on the continuation of the project is creating a confusion among various stake holders. Hence, we request the Centre to give clarity on this and also kindly release funds as promised when ITIR was announced to Hyderabad in 2013,” KTR asked the Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in his letter.
“Even after repeated persuasion from the state government, funds have so far not been released to any of the infra projects under ITIR. Series of meetings with you and also with department officials have not yielded any result till date,” KTR told the Union IT minister in the letter.
The TS IT minister further stated that the State had been making rapid strides in terms of attracting investments in the IT & ITES sector “despite the lack of assistance from the Union government under ITIR project.”
According to KTR, the State government’s proactive investment environment and the TSiPASS, Single-Window Clearance system, had helped the state attract several top-notch companies in the last three years. For instance, global majors such as Google, Apple, Amazon, SalesForce, DBS, ZF and Uber had announced setting up their operations in Telangana. The state government had launched T-Hub, India’s largest incubator for startups, besides setting up Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) initiative for youngsters.
However, lack of clarity on the ITIR project from the Union government is leading to frequent adverse news reports and is creating confusion among the various stakeholders.