Rajya Sabha member and media baron Vijay Darda has made a strong plea to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel to initiate steps to develop Nagpur and its adjoining industrial estates as an automobile manufacturing hub.
In his letter to Chavan on April 16, Darda highlighted that Nagpur with its unutilized, world class industrial infrastructure available at Burtibori, Mihan-SEZ could be ideally transformed into an automobile manufacturing hub, provided the state government as well as the Union government extended tax and other special incentives to attract investment in that sector.
While acknowledging that Chavan had taken proactive steps in promoting Mihan-SEZ in recent times and instrumental in bringing IT giant Infosys here, he urged the chief minister to take a lead in developing the auto hub. In this regard Darda also held detailed discussion with Patel on the feasibility of the idea. Moreover, one mother unit in auto sector could give rise to 300 ancillary units providing thousands of jobs, he stressed.
"Vidarbha has remained backward because of the government's apathy in promoting industrialization by offering special incentive packages to investors. On the other hand overemphasis on developing Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nasik belts has resulted in overcrowding there. Now, despite investors wanting to come to Maharashtra they cannot be accommodated in Mumbai-Pune belt. The only solution is to offer concessions in Vidarbha unmatched by other states Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu and attract investors to the state," Darda said in the letter.
Citing several cases of big units of Tata, Bajaj and Maruti going away to other states, Darda said that Mahindra and Mahindra was looking for a new location outside the state to invest around Rs 3,000 crore after its earlier proposal for setting up plant at Chakan near Pune was dropped because of tax issues. Similarly Indo Rama Synthetics was also planning to shift to Tamil Nadu as Maharashtra did not have proper port facilities, Darda said.
In the letter to Patel, Darda has suggested that a one-day seminar on automobile industry be organized jointly with the state government and automobile associations to promote the concept of new automobile hub at Nagpur. But before that the Union government and state should work out an attractive incentive package to attract investors to Vidarbha, he said.
Praful Doshi, president of Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), backed the idea saying that it can boost ancillary industries in a major way. Mahindra and Mahindra which set up the tractor plant in Nagpur over three decades ago, already has a large number of units working as its ancillaries. With a hub, it can make a major difference. Nagpur's central location will also provide a logistical advantage to the automobile manufacturers.
In his letter to Chavan on April 16, Darda highlighted that Nagpur with its unutilized, world class industrial infrastructure available at Burtibori, Mihan-SEZ could be ideally transformed into an automobile manufacturing hub, provided the state government as well as the Union government extended tax and other special incentives to attract investment in that sector.
While acknowledging that Chavan had taken proactive steps in promoting Mihan-SEZ in recent times and instrumental in bringing IT giant Infosys here, he urged the chief minister to take a lead in developing the auto hub. In this regard Darda also held detailed discussion with Patel on the feasibility of the idea. Moreover, one mother unit in auto sector could give rise to 300 ancillary units providing thousands of jobs, he stressed.
"Vidarbha has remained backward because of the government's apathy in promoting industrialization by offering special incentive packages to investors. On the other hand overemphasis on developing Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nasik belts has resulted in overcrowding there. Now, despite investors wanting to come to Maharashtra they cannot be accommodated in Mumbai-Pune belt. The only solution is to offer concessions in Vidarbha unmatched by other states Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu and attract investors to the state," Darda said in the letter.
Citing several cases of big units of Tata, Bajaj and Maruti going away to other states, Darda said that Mahindra and Mahindra was looking for a new location outside the state to invest around Rs 3,000 crore after its earlier proposal for setting up plant at Chakan near Pune was dropped because of tax issues. Similarly Indo Rama Synthetics was also planning to shift to Tamil Nadu as Maharashtra did not have proper port facilities, Darda said.
In the letter to Patel, Darda has suggested that a one-day seminar on automobile industry be organized jointly with the state government and automobile associations to promote the concept of new automobile hub at Nagpur. But before that the Union government and state should work out an attractive incentive package to attract investors to Vidarbha, he said.
Praful Doshi, president of Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), backed the idea saying that it can boost ancillary industries in a major way. Mahindra and Mahindra which set up the tractor plant in Nagpur over three decades ago, already has a large number of units working as its ancillaries. With a hub, it can make a major difference. Nagpur's central location will also provide a logistical advantage to the automobile manufacturers.
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