VIJAYAWADA: Amid reports that the Centre has asked the State government to borrow Rs 400 crore from Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) for the construction of National Institute of Technology at Tadepalligudem, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar is said to have clarified that the Centre would bear the entire cost for setting up the institute.
The Union Minister conveyed the same to a delegation of leaders from the State BJP unit, who met him in New Delhi on Tuesday. “When we met Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, he made it clear that borrowing from HEFA would be applicable to institutions that were established prior to 10 years.
He informed us that the Centre would bear the cost of setting up the campus,” BJP MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju told TNIE. It may be recalled that according to an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Supreme Court in reply to the petition filed by Telangana Congress leader P Sudhakar Reddy, it was said that Rs 400 crore, out of the project cost of Rs 460 crore, could be borrowed from HEFA. The Centre has granted Rs 50 crore so far for NIT, Tadepalligudem.
Criticising the TDP for making an issue ‘out of nothing’, Vishnu Kumar Raju further said, “It has become a habit for the TDP to make an issue out of nothing. Same was the case with the railway zone issue. We had taken a political decision on June 13 to go ahead with the railway zone at Visakhapatnam, but the ruling party has been trying to blame the BJP using the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court. Instead of focusing on the BJP, the TDP should work on the development aspects and bring down the corruption in the State,” he said.
The Visakhapatnam MLA, along with MP K Hari Babu, MLC PVN Madhav and others, also met Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and felicitated him for the political decision on the railway zone. “It is true that the feasibility report on railway zone was not positive. For example, if a feasibility study was done for Anna Canteens, they would be unviable too. But, the canteens became possible due to the political decision of CM Naidu. Same is the case with Vizag railway zone. It will be announced soon,” the MLA said.