Centre working to provide right biz milieu, says Naidu

 Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said the Centre was committed to providing conducive environment for business. That is why reforms in various sector such as agriculture, labour etc., are being brought by the Centre, he added.

He said to ensure all-round development irrespective of states and political parties in power, a separate cell has been created by his ministry at the Centre. “I have created a separate cell along with my colleagues in the ministry to provide solution for any Karnataka-specific problems,” he said.

“We inherited a very bad situation where there was revenue deficit, trust deficit, fiscal deficit and absence of decision-making, GDP had come down drastically.  But things are slowly coming back on track and it will take time. There are challenges for us on every front. I am not shifting responsibility but we are capable of doing it.”

 On smart cities, he said creating smart cities was not a problem, but smart leadership was needed to sustain these cities. “I do not have problem if Karnataka gets all smart cities but what we need is smart leadership as well,” he said referring to FKCCI president’s suggestion of having at least 10 smart cities in Karnataka alone.

He said smart cities will be developed on PPP mode and Centre was in talks with other countries which had shown interest in developing these and creating services for such cities. 

He said the government was also getting ready with Land Acquisition Act and would ensure farmers interest was not hurt. He also announced Rs 25 lakh from his MP Lad fund for FKCCI’s upcoming project.