Hyderabad: Telangana Industries minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Sunday slammed the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Centre’s “discrimination” towards the state, demanding the Bayyaram steel plant be set up here.
In a letter to the Union minister for steel Ramchandra Prasad Singh, KTR stated that as per the AP state reoganisation Act, KTR said that the Bayyaram plant is supposed to be set up in Telangana. He stressed that the BJP wasn’t sanctioning the plant to state due to some vested interests, which have also led to the denial of other such resources.
KTR further stated that the Geological Survey of India identified 300 million metric tons of Iron ore at the Bayyaram. He alleged that the BJP was “blatantly lying with regards to the quality of Iron ore”. He went on to say that if the quality of Iron ore is the major reason, then a plant must be set up at Bailadi in Chattisgarh.
The minister suggested setting up of a railway line to facilitate the delivery of iron ore from Chattisgarh to Telangana. Reminding the union minister, KTR said chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had put forth the same suggestion to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier.
In the letter KTR also mentioned the Centre was working closely with other state governments to develop special purpose vehicles to assist the establishment of steels plants in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. He then highlighted that the Centre sanctioned Rs. 71,000 crore on expansion and development of steel plants in Rourkela, Burnapur, Durgapur, Bokaro, while nothing was sanctioned to Bayyaram steel plant in Telangana.
KTR also stated how the union minister for tourism in North East, Kishan Reddy and PM Modi made distasteful remarks against the Bayyaram steel plant and the formation of the state respectively.