KCR wins hearts of industrialists

• New policy to meet all expectations of industry
• Speaks of plug-and-play industrial policy of China
• Single-window, fast and hassle-free clearances
• Rs 800 crore subsidy to industries in a phased manner

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday won the hearts of entrepreneurs and industrialists at an interactive session held in Hyderabad, while outlining priorities in drafting the new industrial policy of the State. Captains of the industry submitted memoranda to him and listed out their suggestions and demands for reviving the industrial sector in the State, and inviting new investments. Office-bearers of 45 associations cutting across various sectors and regions joined the interactive session held at a star hotel in the city.

At the outset, the Chief Minister expressed his desire to have a sound industrial policy for the state to ensure efficient and swift clearing of proposals for setting up new industries. “Licence Raj is still in vogue as industrialists have to get 25 to 30 clearances for setting up an industry. The major hurdle is a certificate from the Pollution Control Board which meets once in three months,” he noted.

KCR promised a single window clearance and a ‘chasing cell’ in the Chief Minister’s Office to pursue matters with different departments. He promised that the applications would be cleared within two weeks and three weeks for different categories. He would personally handover the letter to the industrialists.

The Chief Minister referred to the plug-and-play policy infrastructure adapted by China to kick-start new industries. He sat all through the day-long session and patiently sought clarifications from the speakers when he had doubts about the issues raised by them. With his earthly charm, KCR left the audience in splits on several occasions. “Don’t stiffen, open up to share your woes,” he remarked when a small-scale industries representative was apprising him of their problems.

At the end of the session, Rao announced that the Telangana Electricity Regulatory Authority (TERA) would be constituted soon as the government had identified a judge to head the authority.

“The systems are so cumbersome that the government should take sanction of the authority to draw power from other states or the grid. The TRS had urged the erstwhile AP government to book power from PowerGrid so that there would be no power crisis in the state. Tamil Nadu was quick to seize the opportunity and draw power.” He explained that once the TERA was in place, the Telangana government could enter into power purchase agreements with Chhattisgarh. He announced waiving off Rs 50 crore penalties on ginning and spinning mills and release of Rs 800 crore subsidy to the industries in a phased manner.