Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar on Thursday said that Maharashtra lost the Vedanta-Foxconn project and the central government’s promise to chief minister Eknath Shinde to give a bigger project than this is like convincing a child.
Speaking to the media, Pawar criticised the political leadership in Maharashtra for not maintaining an atmosphere to attract more investments.
Pawar said, “It is bad that the big project which will create more jobs moved from Maharashtra. Shinde and industry minister Uday Samant blame the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for it. But they are forgetting that both were part of the MVA and holded good portfolio. The MVA did its best to attract this project.”
Pawar said, “There is no point in discussing the project now that it has moved from Maharashtra. The state leadership should take steps to attract investment. The PM’s promise of a new project for Maharashtra is like convincing a child who is unhappy over something.”
Pawar said, “It is not the first time that Vedanta shifted their project from Maharashtra. Earlier they had planned a project at Ratnagiri district, before it was shifted to Chennai. When I was the chief minister of Maharashtra, I use to give two hours daily to meet various industry delegations. Even in our tenure, officers were busy to tap investors and approached them. Now both the Opposition and the ruling party should need to maintain an investment-friendly approach.”
{{/usCountry}}Pawar said, “It is not the first time that Vedanta shifted their project from Maharashtra. Earlier they had planned a project at Ratnagiri district, before it was shifted to Chennai. When I was the chief minister of Maharashtra, I use to give two hours daily to meet various industry delegations. Even in our tenure, officers were busy to tap investors and approached them. Now both the Opposition and the ruling party should need to maintain an investment-friendly approach.”
{{/usCountry}}‘Stop criminal activities in MIDC areas’
Speaking on the issue of local goons in industrial areas, mainly in Chakan and Ranjangaon MIDC, Pawar said that there are some disturbances. “I met officials and discussed the issue. Some goons are troubling industries in Maharashtra. Authorities should take strict action against these anti-social elements,” he said.