While Opposition ups the ante, ruling parties blame MVA again

This was the fourth major project that Maharashtra has lost to the poll-bound neighbouring state

C295 TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT FOR THE INDIAN AIR FORCE WOULD COME UP IN GUJARAT

MUMBAI: The opposition continued its attack on the fourmonth-old Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government a day after the Centre announced that the Tata-Airbus joint venture to manufacture C295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force would come up in Gujarat, even as state industries minister Uday Samant clarified on Friday that the location for the facility was decided last September itself when the Centre signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with European Defence major Airbus Defence and Space S.A.

Samant told a local news channel last month that the government was in talks with the Centre to bring the Rs 22,000 crore project to Nagpur.

However, on Friday, Samant admitted that he had made the statement without knowing that the location had already been decided. He also blamed the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for not doing anything to bring the project to the state.

“I am not denying that I made the statement over bringing the Airbus-Tata project to Maharashtra but after going in detail I came to know that there is not a single document available in the government that proves that the erstwhile MVA government made a single attempt to bring it here,” Samant said.

Last October, former food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal wrote a letter to former Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, requesting him to consider setting up the C-295 manufacturing facility project in Nashik. Bhujbal was the guardian minister of Nashik district at the time.

“I would like to humbly request you to consider manufacturing of Defense airplanes in the joint venture at Hal, Ojhar situated at Nashik as the complete infrastructure is already in place. This will help expedite the manufacturing activities,” the letter dated October 31, 2021, stated.

When asked for a comment on the political controversy, Shinde, who attended a special meeting of United Nation Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel on Friday, left the media interaction.

This was the fourth major project that Maharashtra has lost to the poll-bound neighbouring state after the VedantaFoxconn semiconductor project, a bulk drug park and a medical devices park, leading the opposition to claim that Shinde’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was hurting the state.

The opposition parties contend that the loss of these projects meant that the state’s youth were losing out on lakhs of job opportunities.

The NCP youth wing said it will hold a statewide agitation against big-ticket investment projects going out of Maharashtra.

Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray said the CM was preoccupied with political games and celebrating festivals rather than focusing on issues like bringing investment into Maharashtra.

“First, Vedanta Foxconn went to Gujarat. A bulk drug park was taken away to Gujarat. We were hopeful about the Rs 22,000 crore project of Tata Airbus but that too has gone to Gujarat. Why have all the big projects from Maharashtra been shifted to Gujarat in a

HT PHOTO The C295 aircraft will be manufactured in Gujarat.