Special laws needed for power supply to industries: Naidu

Accusing the state government of not realising the importance of power for industrial development, leader of the opposition N Chandrababu Naidu has suggested enactment of special laws to provide electricity to industrial estates.

Addressing small and medium-scale industrialists at their relay hunger strike camp organised by the Industrialist Joint Action Committee (IJAC) at Indira Park here on Saturday, he appealed to them not to take any hasty step out of frustration but to live and fight the government till justice was done to them.

If the government was committed to industrial development, special packages in regard to power should be given but the present government seemed to have no such positive attitude towards industrial development, the former chief minister remarked.

The power crisis led to closure of several industrial units and loss of employment for thousands of persons and livelihood for their families, he said and alleged that chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had no understanding of the plight of small and medium scale industrialists.

That was why he had not visited even a single industrial estate which was affected by power crisis, he said.

Claiming that the power reforms he had initiated when he was chief minister yielded positive results, Naidu said people had to bear with the present government for another 18 months, after which the TDP would come to power and solve the power crisis in the state.