VIJAYAWADA: Former Assembly speaker and PCC vice-president Nadendla Manohar alleged that the Partnership Summit to be held in Visakhapatnam later this month would be like its last edition held at the same place - more of a show and less of substance.
Manohar, armed with replies from the government to his queries under RTI Act, said chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, after the last partnership summit, had said that investments of the order of Rs 4.78 lakh crore were in the pipeline and that six lakh jobs would be created.
"The government, to my queries, gave replies which had clearly stated that not even one job had been created and the total investments were just Rs 2, 776 crore. In fact they were not fresh investments but only for expansion of existing pharma industries in Pharma City in Visakhapatnam, expansion of Indian Oil Corporation facilities and companies in SriCity SEZ. I wonder how units that were set up in SriCity SEZ could be included in the list of investments landed by the State government since SEZ companies materialised with the efforts of the administration of the SEZ,” Manohar said.
The former Assembly speaker said that the government had admitted in its replies that no due diligence study was done in respect of companies that had signed 331 MoUS during the last partnership summit.
"One company by name GTB Associates based in Gurgaon has only 10 employees but it signed an MoU that it would create 10,000 jobs while another company floated by a couple - Vizag Cancer Research Park - had said in its MoU that it would invest upto Rs 3,035 crore and create 2,250 jobs at a time when its paid up capital was just Rs 1 lakh," Manohar said.
He took exception on Galla Jayadev signing an MoU on behalf of Amara Raja Batteries at a time when he was Member of Parliament. "When one is a public representative, one cannot continue in the company in any capacity since it would lead to conflict of interest," Manohar said.
He expressed unhappiness over the State government splurging money on inane exercises like the partnership summits.
"The government had spent Rs 38 crore on two day extravaganza at Visakhapatnam. I was shocked when the replies from the government to my queries said that Rs 1 lakh was spent on coffees, Rs 1.5 crore on inaugural ceremony and a whopping Rs1.5 crore for procuring pen-drives. Can there be more irresponsibility?" he asked and demanded publication of white paper on what the government had spent and what it had achieved in the last partnership summit.''