Maharashtra minister blames MVA for Tata-Airbus project moving to Gujarat

Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant on Saturday said the previous Maha Vikas Agahdi government under Uddhav Thackeray did not take any decision on the Tata-Airbus aircraft project

Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant on Saturday said the previous Maha Vikas Agahdi government under Uddhav Thackeray did not take any decision on the Tata-Airbus military transport aircraft project, the moving of which to neighbouring Gujarat had started a political slugfest in the state.

Airbus and a consortium of Tata firms have chosen Vadodara in Gujarat as the site for the 22,000 crore project, leading to the opposition accusing the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party government of ensuring yet another big project had moved away from Maharashtra.

Samant said no meeting on the project was held with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, the state government's nodal investment promotion agency, while talks had taken place at the "local level" with MIHAN, also called 'Multi Modal International Passenger and Cargo Hub Airport at Nagpur.

"No discussion was held by the (previous) government with regards to Airbus. I can say with responsibility there is no official mention at the government level with Airbus regarding the (aircraft) plant," Samant reiterated at a press conference here.

Speaking on the Vedanta Foxconn semiconductor project, which too moved to Gujarat, Samant said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had called the joint venture and asked them to execute a memorandum of understanding, while the previous MVA government had done nothing on the issue.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had met officials of the firm in Mumbai, he added.

Attacking the previous government under Uddhav Thackeray, Samant said 74 MOUs were signed but none took off, while approval for a proposal for a Rs 25,638 paper plant in the state was given on October 20 by the Shinde dispensation.

He further said the Shinde government was taking efforts to revive the bulk drugs park project proposed to be set up in Raigad by taking the local population in confidence, while the previous MVA dispensation had done nothing to get the project to take off.

The minister reiterated that a "big project" that will generate employment will be brought to state in the coming months.

He also said the the state government was making efforts to revive a multi-billion dollar refinery project in Barsu in Konkan's Ratnagiri district in place of the Nanar plan that was called off due to protests.