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Centre calls ITIR projects outdated
Dashing the hopes of the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments on the information technology (IT) growth corridors, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday dubbed the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) projects proposed by the erstwhile UPA government as outdated, and said the present NDA government would soon come up with better projects.
Chennai: Dashing the hopes of the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments on the information technology (IT) growth corridors, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday dubbed the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) projects proposed by the erstwhile UPA government as outdated, and said the present NDA government would soon come up with better projects.
“ITIR is an old project. We are revisiting it. Thereafter, we will come up with a fresh one. There is an issue of why 200 to 500 acres be given (to companies). We need to focus on it more,” the Union Minister said while replying to a question asked by The Hans India on the first day of the two-day Regional Editors’ Conference organised by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) here.
In September 2013, the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government cleared the ITIR project for Hyderabad when the separate Telangana movement was at its peak. Initiated by the united Andhra Pradesh government, the project, aimed at spurring the growth of IT, ITeS and electronic manufacturing sectors, was planned to spread over 50,000 acres, covering 202 sq km in and around Hyderabad, including areas such as existing IT hubs like Gachibowli and Madhapur as well as new areas like Uppal and Pocharam.
As per the initial plans, the project’s investment potential was pegged at Rs 2.19 lakh crore over a 25-year period, providing direct employment to a whopping 1.5 million people and indirect jobs to nearly 5.3million. Recently, the Telangana government, which has been trying to put the project on a fast track since the bifurcation, redesigned it to develop it along the Outer Ring Road.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government is also trying to get an ITIR for Visakhapatnam for the past couple of years and it already submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same. With the central government rethinking on the whole ITIR concept now, both the projects are in a limbo.
Later speaking to The Hans India, the Union Minister said: “The whole ITIR is under reconsideration. We will go for it once the new architecture comes in.” Asked whether the exercise would take a couple of years, he said the government would expedite the process. “We are promoting the IT revolution in the entire country. Many new products and projects will come up,” he maintained.
