Former Finance minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) politburo member, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, on Tuesday said that the industrial sector, which is crucial for the development of the State, has been touching the rock bottom level in Andhra Pradesh for the past three-and-half years.
In an open letter to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, the former minister said that the State is caught in a deep financial crisis with reverse growth, large-scale unemployment and no investments. When the industrial and service sectors witnessed tremendous growth during the TDP regime, they are now moving in reverse trend, he said.
At least investments worth over Rs 17 lakh cr moved out of the state, including the Kia affiliated units to Chennai and Hyderabad, Ramakrishnudu pointed out. Industrialists like Luloo, Franklin Templeton and others cancelled their agreements with the State Government while the Asian Pulp Paper Industry, which is likely to set up its unit in Prakasam district, withdrew investments, the TDP politburo member stated.
Asking what is the fate of the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, Ramakrishnudu said that the future of the YSR Jagananna Mega Industrial Hub is also in dilemma. These are only some examples wherein the investors have gone back and the State Government has taken back the lands allocated to these industrialists. The result of this is there is no employment generation and also the youth lost their job opportunities, he said.
Though a special team represented the State at the Davos conference there are no investments attracted from any industry, Ramakrishnudu said adding that there is no encouragement for the investors from the Backward Classes (BCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). “When the TDP was in power, we tried our best to identify the economic growth engines and focussed on them following which the GSDP has gone up. But now it is moving in the reverse direction,” the former Finance minister said.
The average growth index was in double digit when Chandrababu Naidu was the chief minister but in the past three-and-half years it has been confined to single digit, he pointed out. The State has fallen to the 13th position in attracting foreign investments, Ramakrishnudu said, adding that this clearly shows the commitment of the ruling party towards the overall growth of the State.
The situation is so bad now that the people of the State can not even say which is their capital, Ramakrishnudu said and asked who will come forward to invest in such a State. He advised Jagan to examine all these issues and take some corrective measures to help the State move forward.
