Lukewarm response from NRIs leaves MP govt perplexed

After receiving a lukewarm response from non-resident Indians, in spite of its various investors’ meets in the US and UK, the state government will now try to find out reasons as to why NRIs have turned hostile towards making investment in the state. On January 9, 2010, the state government will hold a special session with NRIs in ‘Prawasi Bhartiya Diwas” in Delhi, not only to interact with them but also to know about their issues that hinder investment in Madhya Pradesh. Later it will organise a “Prawasi Bhartiya Sammelan” in Bhopal on January 12.

“An NRI cell had also been constituted but it did not fetch much result. The NRIs are facing various problems and most of them are of personal nature, like illegal possession on their residents, harassment to their parents etc. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will interact with them in New Delhi on January 9. Later at home in Bhopal the government will felicitate those NRIs who hail from Madhya Pradesh and have done something remarkable for the state and country, on January 12. This is an image building exercise so that more investment can come from the NRIs,” a senior official in the department of the industries told BS.

The state government had created an NRI Facilitation Centre two years back to redress the grievances of NRIs. The centre received 13 applications (most of them e-mails), of which six are pertaining to land dispute. Five other cases were of the similar nature and addressed, while only two NRIs demanded land purchase. “The two cases were forwarded to the revenue department while the land dispute cases are being investigated by the department of home affairs,” the official said.

Few years back the then CM Babulal Gaur had visited the USA and the UK and assured the state of an investment worth Rs 10,000 crore from 12 companies. Later all the companies turned out to be fake. A mega investment drive and interactive session was also initiated with Sharjah, but no investment came from the gulf countries.