Andhra Plans On-Line Project Approval

The Andhra Pradesh government is moving towards granting industrial approvals on the electronic network, announced Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu while inviting fresh investments in agri-business in the state.

The Chief Minister, a known computer buff, had met Microsoft Chief Bill Gates in Delhi on Monday and sought the latters assistance in setting up a world-class infotech centre in the state capital.

Naidu also announced that the state government would shift to paperless functioning within three to four years. He said the World Bank had agreed to provide credit of Rs 40 crore to the state towards computerising the governments working and establishing inter-connectivity. In the next one year, 60 to 70 per cent of the governments functioning will be computerised, he promised.

The Chief Minister was speaking after opening a three-day international conference, Agrivision-97, on agri-business convened by the Confederation of Indian Industry here. He sought the help and cooperation of the delegates to achieve a quantum jump in yield levels of important crops, especially horticultural.

The Chief Minister said this could be achieved through substantial farm mechanisation, induction of improved post-harvest technologies, R&D efforts in the sphere of biotechnology, balanced use of plant nutrients and adequate and timely flow of credit.

Stating his desire for healthy government-industry interaction, Naidu promised that the state government would remain transparent in its dealings with the private sector and eliminate red tape in clearance of investment proposals. He suggested the private sector could take up contract and cooperative farming as a beginning in establishing links with backward areas. He earlier made a detailed electronic presentation of the states potential in food processing, horticulture and floriculture and said its export of farm products had registered a 90 per cent growth in the past two years.

He identified fertilisers and bio-pesticides, food processing, packaging, textile manufacturing, yarn and fabrics, setting up modern rice mills, oil mills, manufacture of spice oil, oleoresins, curry mix etc as areas where large private investment was urgently required.

In his keynote address, major industry minister Basheeruddin Babu Khan stressed the states lead in the agricultural and horticultural sectors and called for sustained efforts to step up exports. Last years exports had touched Rs 18 billion, he announced.

The chairman of the CII national committee on food processing, R Gopalkrishnan, noted the premier role of Andhra Pradesh in agriculture and suggested that it should be taken as the model state for promoting agri-business in the country.