Cabinet clears AP Drone Policy

The State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has given its approval to the Andhra Pradesh Drone Policy, which is designed to form the State Drone Corporation.
Briefing media persons after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Minister for Information and Public Relations (I&PR), Kolusu Parthasarathi, said that the State is moving fast towards transforming the State into a drone hub and it has been decided to set up a Drone Development Centre at Kurnool to achieve this goal. Stating that this centre at Kurnool will be on plug-and-play system, he said that a training centre for drone pilots and a drone manufacturing unit also will be established there.
Expressing confidence that with this policy, at least 100 drone manufacturing units will come up in the State, the Minister said this will result in the setting up of 20 drone pilot training centres and 50 skill development centres across the State. The State government is expecting Rs 1,000-crore investments in this sector which will provide direct employment to over 15,000 youth and indirect employment to another 25,000, to ultimately generate Rs 3,000-crore revenue per annum, he added.
The Cabinet has also approved the Andhra Pradesh Data Centre Policy aiming at adding an additional 200 megawatts of data and attracting investments for setting up the most modern data centres with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Parthasarathi explained. The meeting also unanimously approved the Andhra Pradesh Semiconductor and Display Fab Policy, which will be in force between 2024 and 2029. The Centre will also extend a 50 per cent subsidy in a phased manner while the State government will provide an additional 30 per cent subsidy, he said.
Pointing out that several semiconductor companies from the United States and Europe have established their units in States like Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Parthasarathi expressed confidence that this policy adopted by the Cabinet on Wednesday will certainly take Andhra Pradesh, too, to that stage of development.
The I&PR Minister said that the Cabinet also gave its consent to the proposal to the draft Bill to revoke the AP Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act-1982 and replace it with the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill-2024. “We are formulating legislation to severely punish those who resort to land grabbing,” the Minister explained, and said that besides punishment payment of compensation also will be imposed on such elements.
This legislation has been formulated taking into consideration the Acts that are in existence in States like Gujarat and Karnataka, Parthasarathi said. Also the provisions of the new Act will provide protection to the government lands, he stated.
The Ministry also approved the move to clear Rs 331 crore dues to the contractors who executed 4.45 lakh works in the State. The previous government not only did not clear these dues, but also harassed the contractors by ordering for vigilance inquiry against them following which they knocked on the doors of the judiciary, he said. Also, the State government is examining the possibility of clearing these dues with an additional 12 per cent interest, he added.
The Bill to increase the retirement age of judicial officers covered under the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) Act-1984 from the present 60 years to 61 effective from November 1, has also been cleared by the Cabinet.  Also, the draft Bill for the amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Goods and Services Act-2017, Andhra Pradesh Prohibition (Amendment) Ordinance-2024 and the ordinance on Regulation on Indian-Made Foreign Liquor-2024 were also approved by the Cabinet.
The Cabinet cleared the proposal to revive the Kuppam Area Development Authority (KADA) in Chittoor district and for the formation of Pithapuram Area Development Authority (PADA) with Pithapuram as the headquarters. The Cabinet gave its approval to the decisions taken by the State government for constructing outer ring road and for bypass roads in Amaravathi and Vijayawada East.
The government is planning to construct a 189-km-long outer ring road, which will be linked to expressways, economic corridors, national highways and State highways besides ports along with airports and other areas, Kolusu Parthasarathi explained.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal to bring Sattenapalli Municipality, 92 villages in Palnadu district and 62 villages in Bapatla district under the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) limits, the Information and Public Relations Minister noted.