IT towers in AP to create 2,500 jobs

Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said that his government would strive for achieving a 'complete and perfect welfare state' in Andhra Pradesh.

Laying the foundation stone for information technology towers in 30 acres at Kesarapalli near Vijayawada on Saturday, he said after the completion of the first tower, to be set up in 2.5 lakh square feet area, 2,500 computer professionals' jobs would be created.

Expressing his determination to put Vijayawada alongside Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam on the IT world map, he said that advanced sectors such as information technology would also be given special attention by his government.

The chief minister claimed that 65,000 IT jobs had been created in the last two years as against 80,000 jobs in 10 years before his government took over. "In the next three years, three lakh jobs in both IT and ITeS sectors will be created." 

Jawahar Knowledge Centres opened in 63 engineering colleges in the state would equip IT students with additional skills such as proficiency in the English language.

He reiterated his government's determination to provide irrigation to 65 lakh acres in the next five years by completing, at any cost, projects pending for decades.

On self-help groups, Reddy said that his government had released Rs 1,238 crore (Rs 12.38 billion) and Rs 2,700 crore (Rs 27 billion) to Dwcra groups in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

He promised Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) as loans in 2006-07 for these groups at Rs 0.25 interest. Referring to housing scheme, he said that his government would construct 18,36,000 houses in the current year and 55 lakh in the next three years.

Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated a Rs 71-crore (Rs 710 million) 3-km Puligadda-Penumudi bridge at Avanigadda, a 70-year-old dream of Diviseema people. The bridge cuts short the distance between a number of towns in Krishna and Guntur districts by 100 km.

He also laid foundation stones for a Rs 70-crore double-lane road, Krishna river bund from Vijayawada to Avanigadda, Rs 1 crore (rs 10 million) water tank at Mantada, a power sub-station at Kaza and a multi-purpose hostel at Kuchipudi.

He also inaugurated a hostel for children of fishermen at Mopidevi besides addressing a number of meetings at villages along the road in the three Lok Sabha constituencies.