Three-member committee to probe why mega-projects proposed for Maharashtra chose other destinations
The Hindu
State Industries Minister Uday Samant said that a ‘White Paper’ will be released in the next 60 days to disclose information on the industrial investment received by the State
Cornered by Opposition parties over big-ticket industrial projects going out of Maharashtra in the last three-four months, the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government has decided to form a three-member committee led by a retired High Court judge to probe the reasons for the flight.
State Industries Minister Uday Samant on Wednesday said that a ‘White Paper’ will be released in the next 60 days to disclose information on the industrial investment received by the State.
The committee, which will have two retired bureaucrats as the other members, will bring out the facts in the matter, and all doubts over employment-generating mega projects choosing other States over Maharashtra, which is in the minds of youth, will be cleared through the detailed investigation, he said.
“In the next 60 days, the panel will probe how did the projects go out of State, when were the meetings held, and when the Memorandum of Understandings were signed. The panel will also see the minutes of the meetings,” he said.
The ‘White Paper’ will also discuss the investments that took place during two-and-a-half years of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Since September, when Vedanta-Foxconn decided to set up their ₹1.54 lakh crore semiconductor unit in Gujarat instead of their proposed plan for Talegoan near Pune, the Shinde-Fadnavis government has been under fire from Opposition parties, who have alleged that the mega-project was moved to Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections.
The Opposition also targeted the government for losing four other key projects — a ‘Bulk Drug Park’, the Tata-Airbus military aircraft manufacturing unit, a ‘Medical Device Park’, and a ‘Renewable Energy Hub’.
Tackling a peculiar situation, arising in the case of a cross-border adoption of a child, which is not envisaged in Indian laws, the High Court of Karnataka directed the Union government to stretch its magnanimity and validate the adoption of a Ugandan child by a non-resident Indian (NRI) couple, who adopted the child with the approval of the High Court of Uganda as per the laws of that country.
School Education Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash on March 28 (Thursday) instructed the District Education Officers to ensure that digital infrastructure such as smart TVs, computers, Interactive Flat Panels, projectors and other devices were in good condition, in view of the TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) scheduled to be held on April 10 and 12.