VISAKHAPATNAM: BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao on Sunday said they would release a chargesheet against the YSRC government on its lapses and failure to complete various projects in the State.Speaking to mediapersons in Visakhapatnam, Rao underlined the need to promote brand Vizag to attract investments. Though the city is the ninth richest in the country it is far behind in IT growth. Union Minister for IT Ashwini Vaishnaw is likely to visit Visakhapatnam soon, he said.
The twin towers constructed atop IT Hills in the city were still unoccupied. Owing to lack of basic infrastructure, several IT companies in the State were facing problems. The State government should address their problems on a priority basis, he stressed.
The erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh made rapid strides due to IT sector growth. The Centre has already made several initiatives for the development of IT sector in Visakhapatnam. But implementation of the initiatives have got delayed due to lack of support and cooperation from the State government.
Topnotch infrastructure should be developed to offer full fledged incubation services for an improved ecosystem for start-ups. The State government has not handed over land for the project proposed. STPI, Visakhapatnam urgently requires 30,000 square feet, he pointed out.
The setting up of Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) needs to be expedited to act as an incubation centre to build innovative products and solutions for public sector and other manufacturing companies in the region. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology should continue or relaunch the promotion of BPO scheme to create employment opportunities for the youth in Visakhapatnam and other cities, the MP said.
Rao urged Vaishnaw to keep Vizag in focus as it has the potential to become the next big IT centre in the country. The Rajya Sabha member said he raised the issue of pollution caused by port cargo handling as it was posing a health hazard to people of the city. Infrastructure needs to be created to handle bulk cargo within covered sheds to minimise emission of the fugitive dust. Construction of sheds is an expensive proposition and cannot be taken up by private berth operators.
A time-bound action plan needs to be initiated to bring all coking coal and steam coal operations under covered sheds to arrest the emission of fugitive dust. Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) has already commenced construction of two sheds and plans have been made for two more, he explained.
Former MLA P Vishnukumar Raju and BJP district president M Ravindra were also present.