Even though the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is in favour of attracting more investments and providing suitable plots to investors, it has decided to step up its drive to take back plots allocated by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) from such investors who have left them unused.
Industries Minister Subhash Desai, in the state assembly, said so far, 1,850 such plots were taken back by MIDC, as the investors were sitting on them. “The corporation expects that the investor will use the land for the purpose it was allotted and in a time-bound manner. However, in several cases, it was noticed that the land has been left unused for a long time. Therefore, MIDC has stepped up its drive to take back such lands, as it can be allocated to other investors,” he noted.
MIDC has also taken back a few plots that investors have used for purposes other than what they were allotted for.
Meanwhile, Congress Legislator Nana Patole asked whether the government will take back plots given at nominal rates to the Anil Ambani Group and Patanjali Group near Nagpur if there has been no development yet. "Ramdev Baba's Patanjali group was going to build a herbal and food park on the 230 acres of land near Nagpur. This land was given to Ramdev Baba for 66 years at a very low price. It was claimed that the project would create 50,000 jobs and procure raw materials worth Rs 5,000 crore every day. However, four years later, Patanjali's venture is yet to come up on the proposed site,” said Patole.
Similarly, Anil Ambani's Reliance Defense Company has also been allotted 289 acres of land near Nagpur. “It was claimed that this project would create 2,000 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs, but it has not been set up yet,” noted Patole. He asked the industries minister about what action will be taken against these two groups.
Desai, in his reply, said that he will gather the present status and table the information. “We will take an appropriate action,” he added.
