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Telangana seeks return of land given to PSUs
In a letter written to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Sunday, KTR, as the minister is called, said the Centre’s decision to sell the PSUs was nothing but making a mockery of the state government’s rights.
Stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government was planning to sell its assets in Telangana, including land allotted by the state government to various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), state industries and information technology minister K T Rama Rao has urged the Centre to return the lands to the state government to set up new industrial units.
In a letter written to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Sunday, KTR, as the minister is called, said the Centre’s decision to sell the PSUs was nothing but making a mockery of the state government’s rights.
The minister pointed out that several central PSUs in Telangana, including Hindustan Cables Limited, Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, HMT, Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) and Ordinance factories, were up for sale as part of its disinvestment plans of the Centre.
He said the state government had allotted about 7,200 acres of land to these six Central PSUs. “The value of these lands would be nearly ₹5,000 crore according to government rates and as per open market prices, the value could be over ₹40,000 crore,” he said.
The state government had allotted lands to these companies at marginal prices, and in a few cases, they were offered for free since setting up of these units would generate employment for local people besides facilitating industrial development.
“It is unfortunate that the Modi government has not provided job opportunities to the unemployed youth. If the PSUs are reopened, they would provide direct employment to thousands of unemployed youths and indirectly to millions of people,” he said in the letter.
He said when the Telangana government urged the Union government to allot lands for the construction of skyways to improve transportation in Hyderabad, the Centre demanded compensation as per market price.
“In this context, how can the central government sell the lands that were allotted by the State government for setting up the PSUs,” KTR asked.
He said the Telangana government was recognising the physical assets of PSUs, which the central government wanted to sell, “as the people’s right”.
In the guise of disinvestment, the Centre’s move to sell these assets would be tantamount to selling Telangana assets, he said.
The minister pointed out that many states, including Tamil Nadu, were strongly opposing the Centre’s move to sell PSUs set up in their respective territories in the guise of investments mobilisation.
