Andhra cabinet clears policies in drone, data centres & semiconductors sectors

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh cabinet that had met in Amaravati on Wednesday gave its clearance to three key policies related to drones, data centres and semi conductors. Andhra Pradesh Drone policy, is designed to form State Drone Corporation in order to enlarge the interest on utilisation of drones besides accelerating emergency and other services.

Briefing media persons after the Cabinet meeting, the Minister for Information and Public Relations (I&PR), Kolusu Parthasarathi, said that the state is moving fast towards transforming into a drone hub and decided to set up a Drone Development Centre at Kurnool to achieve this goal. Stating that this centre to be set up at Kurnool will be on plug-and-play system, he said adding that a training centre for drone pilots and a drone manufacturing unit also will be established there.

Expressing confidence that with this policy adopted on Wednesday at least 100 drone manufacturing units will come up in the state, the Minister said that this will result in the setting up of 20 drone pilot training centers and 50 skill development centres across the state. The state government is expecting Rs 1,000 crore investments in this sector which will provide direct employment to over 15,000 youth and indirect employment to another 25,000 people to ultimately generate Rs 3,000 crore revenue per annum, he added.

The Cabinet also approved Andhra Pradesh Data Centre Policy aiming at adding an additional 200 megawatts of data and attracting investments for setting up the most modern data centres with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Parthasarathi explained. The meeting also unanimously approved the Andhra Pradesh Semiconductor and Display Fab policy which will be in force between 2024 and 2029. The Centre will also extend 50 per cent subsidy in a phased manner while the state government too will provide an additional 30 per cent subsidy, he said.

Pointing out that several semiconductor companies from the United States and Europe have established their units in States like Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Parthasarathi expressed confidence that this policy adopted by the Cabinet on Wednesday will certainly take Andhra Pradesh too to that stage of development.

The I&PR Minister said that the Cabinet also gave its consent to the proposal to the draft bill to revoke the AP Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act-1982 and replace it with the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill-2024. “We are formulating legislation to severely punish those who resort to land grabbing," the Minister explained and said that besides punishment payment of compensation also will be imposed on such elements.

This legislation has been formulated taking into consideration the Acts that are in existence in states like Gujarat and Karnataka, Parthasarathi said. Also the provisions of the new Act will provide protection to the government lands, he stated.

Spl development authorities for Kuppam & Pithapuram 

The Cabinet cleared the proposal to revive the Kuppam Area Development Authority (KADA) in Chittoor district and for the formation of Pithapuram Area Development Authority (PADA) with Pithapuram as the headquarters. While Kuppam is the home constituency of chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan had won from Pithapuram. The Cabinet gave its approval to the decisions taken by the State Government for constructing outer ring road and for bypass roads in Amaravathi and Vijayawada East.

The Government is planning to construct an 189-km-long outer ring road which will be linked to expressways, economic corridors, national highways and state highways besides ports along with airports and other areas, Mr Kolusu Parthasarathi explained.

The Cabinet also approved the proposal to bring Sattenapalli Municipality, 92 villages in Palnadu district and 62 villages in Bapatla district under the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) limits, the Information and Public Relations Minister noted.