Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today appealed to the Maoists to eschew violence, join the mainstream and contest elections to make their voice heard.
Inaugurating diamond jubilee celebrations of the National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) here on Friday as the chief guest, the Vice President said the ballot was more powerful than the bullet. “Violence will never help the Maoists to further their ideology and they should not hamper the development process in the country,” he said and appealed to them to stop harassment of the innocent people. Describing Hyderabad as a beautiful city, Venkaiah lauded the role of IT & Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao in making the capital city an attractive place for everyone.
Referring to NMDC’s remarkable journey, he said Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) were contributing immensely to the country’s economic growth. Over the years, the PSEs have helped the country in building a sustained industrial base and technological competencies in a number of areas. The PSEs have played a pioneering role in building the infrastructure—be it telecom, transportation, power, irrigation or road network. To heavy machinery, the public sector units served the needs of country. Coal, oil and natural gas are the other key areas where the public sector companies have made immense contribution to the national economy.
“The PSEs have provided employments to lakhs of people. India is the only country with about 65 per cent of the population aged below 35 years and this is a big demographic boon and the energies of the young, educated population have to be fully harnessed to transform India into the one of the leading economic powers in the world in the coming years. For this to happen, companies like NMDC must look beyond the conventional templates, take up skilling programs for youth in a big way and give a thrust to ‘Make in India’ initiative”, he added.
The Vice President said the saga of NMDC, includes the pioneering exploration activity carried out for developing iron ore mines in Karnataka and in various regions like Kudremukh, Donimalai, Bababudan, Kumaraswamy and Ramandurg. He also congratulated the NMDC on posting a handsome profit of Rs 4,293 crore this year and emerging as one of the top profit-making ‘Navratna’ companies in the country.
On setting up of Bayyaram Steel Plant in the State, Naidu asked Union Minister for Steel Birendra Singh, who was also present, to ensure that all the assurances provided in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, are fulfilled. When Birendra Singh pointed out that the report of the special task force, set up by the Ministry to go into the viability of the project, would be submitted to the the Vice President, Naidu said the report would be available to him in about 15 days, and hoped that the steel plant would be cleared and set up in Telangana State.
“I am very happy to know that NMDC was striving to invest in strategic and critical raw materials which are required by our nation for long term supply security. In line with this strategy, NMDC has already entered into MoUs with MIDHANI & DMRL to explore opportunities for investment in Tungsten mineral assets in India and abroad. Such initiatives will give impetus to ‘Make in India’ campaign”, he said. (NSS)