We will protect Hyderabad's brand image: KTR

HYDERABAD: TRS leader and legislator K Taraka Rama Rao has assured industrialists that his party's government will create a conducive atmosphere for rapid industrial development in the new state.

Participating as chief guest in Telangana's First Industrial Meeting -2014, here, KTR, as he is popularly called, said the TRS had a clear blueprint for industrial development of Telangana and for making it a vibrant and progressive state.

'It is a challenge, but we are more than ready to face it and emerge triumphant. We will take you all (industrialists) along with us in the development process and ours will be an inclusive government that wants to ensure benefit for all,' he said.

Admiting that Telangana would be a power-deficit state, KTR said the government would overcome it in three years' time. 'Experts like Narasinga Rao, who headed Coal India and is well aware of the problems and resources of Telangana being the son of the soil, have been roped in to be part of the state administration,' he said.

He asked the industrialists not to get carried away by the false propaganda of some leaders with vested interests and said Hyderabad had the most advanced infrastructure. Pooh-poohing the claims of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu that it was he who had developed Hyderabad, the TRS leader said development of Hyderabad had not happened overnight but was a gradual phenomenon for over 426 years.

Stating that no one could stop the growth of Hyderabad, KTR said there was no need for anyone to have any apprehensions. 'Hyderabad, by its very nature, is a cosmopolitan city. It does not belong to any one region, religion, sect or caste.

It can be best described a mini- India,' he said and assured that there would not be any distrubance of any kind in Hyderabad or elsewhere in Telangana. The TRS government would act tough on trouble-makers, he said.

Giving a glimpse of TRS government's plans for the development of Telangana state, KTR said that over a period of time Hyderabad had evolved as a major hub of development in every sector, be it IT or pharmaceuticals. It has a strong knowledge base, well-built infrastructure including the Outer Ring Road and others.

'What we are contemplating is the city's further expansion. Our leader KCR has conceived plans for developing a Regional Ring Road on the other side of the ORR and connect the two with radial road network. In between the two, several clusters of industries will be developed along with satellite townships,' he said.

Stating that ITIR will be a big boost to the development of Hyderabad and Telangana, he said ITIR would bring in Rs 2.18 lakh crore investments and create direct and indirect employment to about 50 lakh people in the next 20 years.

'Hyderabad's population will be tripled and we plan infrastructure for that. We will also plan metro train services to cover 200 to 250 km in the next five years,' he said.

Several industrialists including Y Ravi Prasad, T Sridhar, Ravindarji Agarwal and others explained the problems being faced by their respective sectors and made some suggestions for addressing them.