Minister for Mines and Geology Galla Aruna Kumari on Wednesday lamented that though Krishna and Guntur have achieved considerable progress both in agriculture sector, the districts were lagging behind in the establishment of capital goods industries.
Addressing a meeting organized under the aegis of District Industries Centre and Confederation of Indian Industries, Ms Aruna Kumari, who is also the incharge Minister for the district, expressed serious concern over the tardy pace in establishment of industries in the districts.
Though two tier and three tier cities are achieving considerable progress in various districts, both Krishna and Guntur districts were lagging behind in the terms of setting up of industrial units, she said.
This, she said, was despite the fact that the two districts have proper infrastructure facilities in terms road, rail and air connectivity, apart from a conducive environment to set up industrial houses.
She directed the officials and district Collectors to look into the issue and take steps to attract more entrepreneurs to evince interest and set up industries.
MP Lagadapati Rajgopal, MLAs Malladi Vishnu and Jogi Ramesh also took part in the meeting.
Later the minister laid a foundation stone for a Rs 1.36 crore power sub-station at Madhuranagar in the city.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms Aruna Kumari pointed out that since 2004, the government has been providing power under subsidy to the tune of Rs 21,400 crore to farmers and others.
This year the government has paid subsidy bill to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore, she revealed.
The Minister added that the state government was planning to purchase 1800 megawatts of power from neighbouring states to tide over the electricity problem which is expected to arise during the summer season.