YS Jagan Mohan Reddy sets focus on industry, jobs

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy focused on the establishment of industries and employment opportunities in the state as part of "Mana Paalana-Mee Suchana" programme at the review meeting on Thursday.

Visakhapatnam is the only city in the state that can compete with cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru and that a university would be set up in Visakhapatnam for skill development, the CM said at the meeting at his Tadepally camp office.

Shedding light on the obstacles faced by the state, Jagan said the denial of Special Category Status (SCS) by the Centre deprived us of incentives to industries.

If the SCS was accorded, the Centre would have shared the burden and state would have benefitted from IT and GST exemptions, he said.

He also said that unfortunately, even our state which was ruled by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in alliance with the Central government for five years post-bifurcation, yet AP could not get Special Category Status.

Assuring the industrialists and investors in the state, Jagan said, "The only guarantee we give to industrialists is that we will stand by on what we speak.

The government will be proactive in this regard and the state is ready to give land and water for industries. We have to create an industry-positive environment for industrial development in the state."

He also mentioned that the government has introduced judicial purview and reverse tendering unlike any other state in the country.

"About 75 percent of jobs in the industry will be given to locals. We are planning on more job oriented courses at higher education level," he said.

In a bid to strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Andhra Pradesh to help them cope with the COVID-19 lockdown impact, the YSRCP government had paid about Rs 968 crore worth industrial incentives MSMEs during corona crisis to revive their business that was pending and the rest Rs 500 crore will be paid soon and A fixed amount of power charges were waived off and a package of ₹1200 crore was given to MSMEs, Jagan said.

The CM also said eight new fishing harbours worth Rs 2,400 crore will be established in the state. While announcing a new steel plant would be set up in Kadapa worth Rs 15,000 crore, Jagan said, "We will tie-up with the private companies for the development of steel plant if they come forward."

He also announced that three greenfield ports will be set up at Bhavanapadu, Ramayapatnam and Machilipatnam in the state.