Addressing a gathering during a visit to Nandurbar district, Shinde said both he and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have discussed issues related to industrial investment in Maharashtra with prime minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.
“The opposition is targeting us, claiming that big investments are going away from Maharashtra to Gujarat. I will not respond to this issue. Our industries minister, Uday Samant, has already made the government’s stand clear on it. Maharashtra’s future is all about big-ticket industrial investments. Once things are finalized, people would come to know how my government is working to woo investments for the state,” Shinde said.
“There will be investments in the industrial sector which would generate employment opportunities for Maharashtra’s people, especially the youth,” Shinde said, adding the opposition was “in tension” due to the hectic pace at which his government was working to usher in all-round development in the state. Barely one-and-a-half months after the Rs 1.5 lakh crore Vedanta-Foxconn project went to Gujarat, the Shinde-Fadnavis government came under fresh attack from the opposition as Gujarat landed the Rs 22,000 crore Tata Airbus project.
The CM further said, “Development had come to a standstill for the two-and-a-half years of MVA’s time. Our government has set up a war room to track progress of all projects implemented in the state. Officials at the war room are constantly monitoring the implementation of the projects. The aim is to ensure their time-bound completion.”
State industries minister Uday Samant also targeted the MVA on Saturday, reiterating that no decision had been taken by it on the Tata Airbus project. Speaking in Thane, Samant said he had obtained details which revealed no meeting had been held with the MIDC on the project at any time. “There is no official mention at the government level regarding the project,” he said.
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Samant referred to former minister Chaggan Bhujbal of NCP greeting Ratan Tata in a letter and wanting him to bring the project to his hometown. “There is nothing more than that in the letter,” Samant said. Samant also said that in the case of Vedanta-Foxconn, Shinde had acted, adding the state government had called Vedanta to the state for executing a memorandum of understanding. Fadnavis had met Vedanta’s officials in Mumbai, he added.
The minister also alleged that in the MVA government’s 2.5 years, 74 MoUs had not fructified and not a single cabinet sub-committee meeting was held.
“Only signing an MoU and projecting employment is not sufficient. A project needs to be activated,” he pointed out.
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He said that on October 20, a meeting was held by the Shinde-led government in which approval was given for a project worth over Rs 25,368 crore. He asked why the MVA’s cabinet sub-committee did not meet and did not clear projects.
About the Nanar project, Samant said the local MP had strongly opposed it. He said the decision of setting up the refinery at Parshu had been taken and the process was under way. Giving details of the Nanar project, he said its cost had gone down from Rs 3 lakh crore to Rs 1.75 lakh crore now and asked because of whom the cost had gone down by Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
Shinde said his government had placed on priority the issue of crop damage and how farmers were affected. “According to the usual norms, each farmer was entitled to compensation for crop damage involving two hectares. But our government increased it to three hectares. We have disbursed nearly Rs 6,000 crore as compensation to the affected farmers. I have directed all district administrations to complete the panchama of the losses at the earliest so that the rest of the affected farmers also get their damages,” he said.
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