Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday announced several new projects for both, the Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh.
Addressing a press conference here, the Union Minister said that three electronics hubs would be established in Telangana at Hyderabad, Maheshwaram and Medak. Further, the Information Technology Investment Region would get additional funds and support from the Centre.
Similarly, the Centre was seriously considering an ITIR in Visakhapatnam. He also announced that Anantapur would be developed as electronic manufacturing hub and Chittoor too is under active consideration. He said Andhra Pradesh Government has requested for inclusion of Kakinada in the list. As part of “Make in India” project, he said that the Centre would give sanction and Rs 50 crore for electronic manufacturing hubs to the States which allots 50 acres of land.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that on Saturday he met both the Chief Ministers – K Chandrashekar Rao (Telangana) and N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and was impressed with the zeal and competitive nature. He said both the Telugu States were engaged in a healthy competition and the Centre would extend all required support to both.
Speaking about Jana Dhan Yojna, the Union Minister said that so far nearly eight crore accounts have been opened under the scheme and people have deposited about Rs 10,000 crore in those accounts. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of 10 crore accounts by January 26, 2015. He also announced that broadband connectivity would be given to 2.50 lakh panchayats and in the next three years, nearly seven lakh kilometres of cable would be laid across the country.
Stating that there were about 90 crore mobile phones in India, the Union Minister said that the Centre was keen to link several services with the mobile phone.
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