Maharashtra white paper seeks to clear air on mega projects moving to Gujarat

MUMBAI:  The Maharashtra government has decided to come out with a white paper to clear the air about the relocations of big projects from the state to Gujarat. The move comes after the Opposition parties have alleged that in the last three months of the Shinde-Fadnavis government, three mega projects worth Rs 2.25 lakh crore have been relocated from Maharashtra to Gujarat.

Aaditya Thackeray has demanded the resignations of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Industries Minister Uday Samant for failing to retain these projects. He has said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government worked hard to get the projects for the state, but the new incumbent government failed its people.

Calling the allegations baseless, Samant said, “We have not failed in our duty to retain the big projects. In fact, we tried to bring them back, since the project leaders had made up their mind during the previous Uddhav Thackeray government to relocate them.”

Samant added that people are being misguided. “We want to bring out the truth by releasing a white paper. It will throw light over the decisions of the previous regime. During the Uddhav Thackeray government, not a single big firm linked an agreement with the government. If there is no MoU, how can we be blamed for it,” he asked. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also blamed the Opposition for building a fake narrative.