Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has come down heavily on Union Minister Kishan Reddy for his comments that it was not possible to establish a steel plant at Bayyaram and called for a protest against the Centre’s stand on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, party MPs Nama Nageswara Rao and Maloth Kavitha and Minister for Transport Puvvada Ajay Kumar alleged that the BJP Government was doing grave injustice to Telangana, particularly the erstwhile Khammam district, by not keeping the promises such as setting up a steel plant at Bayyaram made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
In addition, the Centre had also snatched large chunks of land mass in the form of seven mandals and one of the cheapest hydel generation stations – Lower Sileru – although they were not part of the bifurcation Act. “The Centre had shown great urgency in transferring seven mandals of combined Khammam district in the name of Polavaram project and gave away 460 megawatt Lower Sileru without any reason,” they pointed out.
Stating that they would raise the issue of Bayyaram steel plant in the next phase of the ongoing budget session of Parliament, the two MPs said it was based on a Geological Survey of India (GSI) report that Bayyaram has about 300 million tonnes of quality iron ore. The Centre had decided to set up a steel plant and now it says the quality of ore is inferior, they said.
Minister argues
Mr. Ajay Kumar mentioned that in case the iron ore available in the area was not of good quality, the State Government had already come forward to bear the costs for transportation of ore available in Bailadila in Chhattisgarh, about 180 km from Bayyaram, by allotting mines there or a slurry pipeline could also be laid to bring the ore from there and for that too, the State Government had offered to bear the expenditure. The Centre was unwilling to set up even a pellet plant about which it had spoken earlier, he noted.
Alleging that the BJP Government at the Centre was treating Telangana with vengeance, Mr. Nageswara Rao sought to know why it was not fulfilling even other promises made in the bifurcation Act such as establishing a railway coach factory, setting up a tribal university or even sanctioning funds for Mission Bhagiratha, based on which it had introduced Har Ghar Jal project by giving 50% funds to States for its implementation.
Stating that Telangana had already completed implementation of drinking water supply to every household, the MP said the Centre was unwilling to sanction ₹24,000 crore to Mission Bhagiratha recommended by the NITI Aayog. There was also provision for giving national status to one of the irrigation projects in Telangana but it was denied even after 8 years – first to Kaleshwaram and later to Palamuru-Rangareddy project.
Further, they alleged that the Centre was giving funds for land acquisition for national highways and ring roads in other States but for Telangana it was giving only 50%.
