Govt to revive sick industries

Hyderabad, May 9 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today said the state government is committed to strengthen and revive sick industries in the state and protect the interests of its employees.

Interacting with officials, on the eve of his visit to Visakhapatnam to participate taking over function of Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels Ltd (BHPV) by Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd (BHEL) tomorrow, he said the government was poised for large scale industrial development and creating employment potential in the state. The state government had contemplated an action plan to further enhance the potentiality in creating additional employment to the youth, he added.

For the BHPV employees, the state government had extended several relief measures like transfer of the title of land, measuring 386.73 acres in possession of BHPV, as gift deed in its favour and waiver of registration and stamp duties. It had also proposed for waiver of Sales Tax arrears of Rs 42.16 crore, waiver of NALA tax of Rs 43 lakh and waiver of dues towards water tax, property tax and vacant land tax of Rs 3.96 crore for the BHPV employees, Dr Reddy pointed out in a press release here.

After the takeover of BHPV by BHEL, around 1,332 of the 1,512 employees of BHPV would continue to be on the rolls, he said.

The sick industries and several other companies like Allwyn, Republic Forge and IDPL were forced to declare lockout due to the step-motherly attitude and negligence by the previous government, the Chief Minister alleged.

The BHPV, a PSU established in Visakhapatnam in 1966, engaged in the manufacture of capital equipment for the core sector industries such as fertilizers, petroleum refineries, petrochemicals, steel, paper, power, chemicals and oil&gas, had also been catering to the requirements of atomic energy, defence and space sectors for the past three and a half decades by way of successfully commissioning important national projects.

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