IT body needs IAS officer

HYDERABAD: Trade body IT & ITeS Industry Association of Andhra Pradesh (ITsAP) urged the state government to appoint a full-time IAS officer, who can exclusively focus on the development of tier II and III cities in the state. At present, of the `35,000 crore software exports from Andhra Pradesh, a mere `1,000 crore comes from smaller towns and cities. The remaining is from the companies located within Hyderabad. As part of its recommendation, ITsAP suggested the government should run this as a pilot project and later extend to other smaller cities including Vijaywada, Warangal, Kakinada, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam.“There is an urgent need to appoint a specially designated IAS officer, as the IT secretary to drive the IT/ITeS sector in the state,  to push the IT sector in tier-II cities in the state. It could either be an IAS officer to look after the tier-II cities or one for each city,” said V Rajanna, who recently took charge as ITs AP president. He underscored the need to bring more companies into the state to create jobs.