Centre’s Defence push in Telanagna

Hyderabad: Are the investments of the Centre in Telangana benefitting the State and its people? Is the Centre's treatment towards the State stepmotherly?

Amdist a tug-of-war between the ruling BRS in Telangana and the BJP-led government at the Centre here comes to the fore how the Defence Ministry alone invested Rs 78,961 crore through different wings of it located in the State.

The two defence premier organisations, Defence Research Development Organisation's (DRDO) Hyderabad Lab Projects stood at the top in which the Centre had pumped in Rs 45,000 crore, followed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) Local Industry Partners getting Rs 32,054 crore.

The Defence Ministry has invested in the Department of DefenceRs 566 crore; in the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) Rs 174 crore; and made an investment of Rs 1,167 crore in the Department of Military Affairs (DMA).

In turn, the investments have been channelised through various Defence Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), which have created 5,500 new jobs and trained 10,479 youth of Telangana in different apprentice steams by conducting 1,268 skill training programmes.

Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, said that the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been making concerted efforts to make new investments through Central PSUs to create jobs and new opportunities in the defence sector in Telangana.

The funds invested in the Defence Ministry wings have flowed into the Telangana-based companies, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) getting awarded works and contracts from the Defence PSUs as part of the ‘Make in India’ programme.

Accordingly, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) (Rs 9,177 crore), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)Rs 5,569 crore, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) Rs 9,015 crores, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI)Rs 2,793 crore and Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL) Ordnance Factory- Rs 6,302 crore have awarded either contracts or works to the Telangana based companies and MSMEs to the tune of Rs 32,856 crore in last nine years.

Apart, the Defence PSUs of Telangana have contributed about Rs600 crore in CSR activities, benefitting in sanitation, education, skilling, healthcare, rural development and environment protection. All this makes the Defence PSUs expenditure comes to about Rs 33,456 crore in Telangana.

The Defence PSUs also invested Rs 1,878 crore in the existing facilities and about Rs 831 crore to create new facilities in the defence PSUs located in Telanganabenefiting its residents.