Sangareddy: Minister for Tourism, Sugar and Industries, J.Geeta Reddy, strongly advocated establishment of Special Economic Zones in the State and said that these zones will provide 14 lakh jobs by 2010 all over the country and in Andhra Pradesh alone the figure could be around 1.5 lakh.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the Minister said that a separate bill for Special Economic Zones is on the anvil and the State Government is also keen on announcing a policy for the SEZs.

Elaborating on the SEZ plans the Minister said that 11 of the 54 Special Economic Zones proposed to be set up in 32,000 acres of land in the State would be under the public sector and five SEZs would be set aside for information technology and IT enabled services.

Charges refuted

Terming the allegations of the CPI (M) that prime agricultural land had been handed over to industrialists as unfortunate, the Minister said that only 935 acres of land out of 32,000 acres earmarked for SEZs in the State was wet land. She said that more than 30,000 jobs in the Tada SEZ and another 60,000 in the textile zone in Visakhapatnam were up for grabs.

IIT site in 10 days

Describing the establishment of an IIT in Medak district as a boost to its economy, Ms Geeta Reddy urged political parties not to oppose the plan, as Medak also was one of the most backward regions in Telangana.

She said that the selection committee from the IIT would visit the district to identify a suitable site for the establishment of the IIT from one of the five alternatives picked up by the district administration within ten days.

She pointed out that the proposed Gurukulam by none other than Raja Reddy of Carnegie Mellon University in Adilabad would have a potential of training 250 youth from Adilabad for the MBA degree.

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