Hyderabad, April 01: Moving over the controversies over land allotments to private companies by his predecessors, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday offered more sops to information technology companies which set up their units in Tier-II cities.
He asked the IT firms to make Tier-II cities as their new destinations and play vital role in turning Andhra Pradesh into a world-class IT destination for global players.
Speaking at an annual IT awards for 2009-10 function organised by the state government’s information technology and communications (IT&C) department at Shilpakalavedika at Madhapur here yesterday, Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the government was planning to come up with a special economic zone for animation and gaming with world-class facilities on the outskirts of Hyderabad .
“The government is taking all necessary precautions to ensure that the operations of IT companies are not affected due to the regional disturbances. We are ready to provide land in the city of their choice apart from special incentives to companies which are willing to establish their units in Tier-II cities,” he said.
In the wake of the controversies over land allotments, Reddy said the measures proposed to be taken by the government against large-scale land allotments would not affect genuine companies. However, he said, the government will have to initiate action against companies which failed to establish their units despite availing incentives from the government.
The chief minister launched a new website of IT&C department and released a report on IT&C industry in the state prepared by the department in association with Cushman & Wakefield, an international property consultant.
IT and communications minister P Lakshmaiah said the government was ready to provide all necessary support to IT firms willing to establish their units in the state. He said the activities of IT companies in the state were not hampered by the regional agitations and assured that the government was ready to safeguard the operations of IT companies.
Awards were presented to top performing IT and ITES companies for their outstanding contributions.
–Agencies