Data centres’ power needs only after meeting domestic, industry and agriculture needs, says IT Minister

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Telangana IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu said that a decision was taken to think of power needs of data centres only after fulfilling electricity requirements for domestic consumption, agriculture, industries and State.

Citing the proposed data centres in the State during question hour in the State Assembly on Friday, Sirpur MLA Palvai Harish Babu raised concerns over electricity needs at data centres. He said that it is IT services that create jobs and not data centres. Responding to the concerns, the IT Minister agreed that there are some challenges associated with them.

He said that they have initiated a special action plan to address the challenges that may arise from the expansion of data centres in the coming years. Alternative arrangements are being made to ensure that adequate power is supplied to data centres without affecting local requirements, as per Mr. Sridhar Babu’s office.

MLAs asked if IT companies would be set up at the existing IT hubs in tier-II cities, including Nizamabad, so that youth there would not have to migrate in search of livelihood. The IT Minister said that they too are keen on it, and special policies and providing special incentives would be considered.

He also said that while high-value products were created in other parts of the world, highly skilled software engineers from the State executed back-office work from here for all these years. “We want to create high-value products from Hyderabad and tier-II cities like Adilabad and Nizamabad. We are making plans,” he said in the Assembly.

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