MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday demanded a white paper on the Rs 37 lakh crore worth Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed were signed at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He asserted that only full transparency would reveal the facts to the public.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Industries Minister Uday Samant and senior state officials spent four days at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where they claimed to have signed memoranda of understanding worth Rs 37 lakh crore with global companies, promising the creation of 43 lakh jobs in Maharashtra.
Over this tall claim, the opposition slammed ruling party leaders for misleading the people by projecting the inflated figures and misleading details, such as there are several firms that inked the MoU in Davos, but their offices are in Mumbai, why do these local firms go to Davos just to sign the MoU? They could have done it in Mumbai only.
Reacting to this, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, said it is not right to mislead the people of Maharashtra by projecting inflated figures just for publicity. He said, eventually the truth comes out, but the state government should come out with a white paper with actual details on how many of the signed MoUs in Davos were transferred into actual investment on the ground in Maharashtra and how many jobs were also generated in reality.
“As for the signing of MoUs with local companies in Davos, the Karnataka Industry Minister, M. B. Patil’s statement is worth noting. He says that the Karnataka government does not sign MoUs with local companies in Davos, but only with foreign investors. That is why more foreign companies invest in Karnataka, and their per capita income is higher than in Maharashtra. Signing MoUs with Mumbai-based companies like Adani and Lodha in Davos is a cruel joke,” Chavan criticised.
He added, “The unemployed youth of Maharashtra do not want events, but want transparency, accountability and actual jobs to be created. Will the Chief Minister issue a white paper on the status of MoUs signed in Davos in the past and about the major projects started with substantial FDI during his tenure?”