Investments flow to AP

PNS | Vijayawada

AP Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy has said that the State has been attracting investments through Ease of Doing policy and the State government is giving permissions according to the norms and rules, opting for a friendly industrial promotion system.

Addressing media persons on Wednesday, Ramakrishna Reddy said that in the last two to three days, projects worth Rs 24,000 crore came up, which were approved during the Cabinet meeting.

The Government Advisor said that the union government did not sanction houses in 2019-20 under PMAY rural to AP hence there was no activity of PMAY rural in the State.During 2021-22, the union government sanctioned 1.79 lakh houses under this scheme.All the houses would be completed by 2024. He added that government employees were also part of the government and their issues would be resolved by the Sankranti festival.

He held Chandrababu Naidu responsible for the delay in Polavaram project, and said that the Central government was also responsible for completing the project including relief and rehabilitation. YSRC MPs were raising the Polavaram issue in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

Ramakrishna Reddy said that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had brought an industrial policy transparently and without discrimination. Under the same policy, reverse pumped storage based power projects in the industry category were formulated. Refuting allegations of Telugu Desam Party of not following tenders for industries establishment, he said even a sixth grader knew that there was no need to call tenders for mega industries.

He said that out of the Rs 24,000-crore investments, apart from Rs 8,800 crore for the steel plant, the rest came directly. He explained that a cement industry would come wherever limestone was available and similarly, these energy plants were also being identified wherever there was an opportunity.

Ramakrishna Reddy refuted the allegations of allotting mega projects to the relatives of party leaders by the YSRC government. The Opposition wished that industries should not come to the State, so they were spreading lies. He explained that permissions were given to Green Co Company during Chandrababu’s rule without following norms, which was why the Jagan government corrected it by increasing the royalty to the government to Rs 5 lakh per acre from Rs 2.5 lakh.

He further explained that Jagan’s government had taken measures to collect Rs 1 lakh per megawatt annually for the first 25 years after putting green energy cess, and Rs 2 lakh annually for the next 25 years. He stated that the government would take steps to provide Rs 31,000 every year for farmers and any lands that belonged to the government.