HYDERABAD: IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, on Sunday, said that if the Centre had not revoked Hyderabad’s ITIR status, the rate of employment and growth in Telangana would have been higher.
In a letter to Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rama Rao urged the Central government to provide an alternative to the ITIR scheme for Hyderabad, so that it ‘continues to provide employment to our youngsters’.
The IT Minister said, “I take this opportunity to remind you, on behalf of the Telangana government, that numerous appeals were made during the past six years to sanction funds for the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) scheme in Hyderabad.
"Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on multiple occasions, both personally and through official letters, to provide assistance to the ITIR project. As the IT Minister of the State, I had also met you and requested you to release funds for the same.”
However, there has been no response from the Union government on the matter, said Rama Rao. “Valuable time was lost as the Telangana government kept pursuing the ITIR project without any response from the Union government. Lakhs of local youth have been deprived of employment due to the lackadaisical attitude of the Centre,” he said.
“Since it is now amply clear that the Central government is not inclined to continue the ITIR scheme, I hereby request you to consider providing a scheme or initiative in its place to ensure that cities like Hyderabad continue to flourish and provide employment to our youngsters,” Rama Rao added.
The Industries Minister wrote the letter to Prasad, in response to an estimate that IT exports from Telangana are expected to grow over 7 per cent and touch Rs 1.4 lakh crore (about $19.1 billion) for the financial year 2020-21. The national growth rate in the said period, according to NASSCOM, is estimated to be at about 1.9 per cent at $150 billion.
Select Hyderabad as IPL venue, Minister to BCCI
Upset over Hyderabad not being included in the list of venues for the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL), MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao on Sunday appealed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and IPL to add the city to the list.
On Twitter, Rama Rao assured them of support from the State government, adding that Hyderabad has a low number of Covid-19 cases due to effective containment measures.
“Open appeal to @BCCI and @IPL office bearers to include Hyderabad as one of the venues for upcoming IPL season. Our effective COVID containment measures are reflected in our low number of cases among all metro cities in India & we assure you of all support from the Govt (sic),” he tweeted