IT in Hyd to escape power cut

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Hyderabad: In what is sure to be seen as a welcome relief for the sector, the IT industry will be exempted from statutory power cuts. Hyderabad will now also implement the first-of-its-kind 4G service in the country. The decision was taken at the review meeting held by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who reviewed infrastructure-related issues pertaining to the growth and development of the IT industry, along with IT minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and other officials on Friday.
The CM directed the energy secretary to issue orders to all discoms to exempt the IT industry from the statutory power cuts. Also the proposals of 12 Fortune 500 IT companies — including HCL, Deloitte, Infotech Enterprises, Intergraph, iGate, Value Labs, OSI, Sify, Prithvi and Qualcomm  — that have shown interest in setting up campuses in Hyderabad and have approached the state government for land, were discussed.
Another major decision taken was to relax the eligibility criteria  in the ICT Policy 2010-2015 for promoting and attracting new investments and aiding the growth of the IT industry in tier-II and III cities such as Warangal, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Kakinada.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of HMDA was told  to expedite the Building Plan approval for IT companies allotted land in Kokapet. Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy also asked the APIIC and the energy secretary to ensure the setting up of a substation before the commencement of commercial operations of TCS in Adibatla.
The CM directed officials to extend 101 services at the earliest under Mee Seva.