The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has refuted claims made by the Hinjawadi Industrial Association (HIA) that 37 companies have moved out of the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park in the past decade due to poor infrastructure and traffic congestion, and many more are on the verge of leaving.
“There are indeed traffic issues at Hinjawadi, but no company has specifically raised this issue with MIDC. If such companies exist, the HIA should provide us with their names. Currently, we have no information regarding companies leaving due to specific issues,” the Indian Express quoted an MIDC official as saying.
Yogesh Joshi, secretary of the HIA, responded, saying that he does possess a list of the names of the companies that moved out of the IT park in Hinjawadi but added that he is not bound to disclose it.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant said he would be holding a meeting with the industry association members to address their concerns. He also alleged that the opposition was trying to create a negative narrative citing that companies were shifting out of the IT park because of infrastructure issues.
Earlier, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, under whose constituency Hinjawadi falls, blamed the state government's neglect for this. Sule had also requested NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar to hold a meeting with the IT industries and convince them not to shift out of Hinjawadi.
For the uninitiated, it was due to Pawar's efforts that the IT park had come up in Hinjawadi. Speaking at a party event in recently, he said that he had managed to convince local leaders to make way for the IT park instead of a cooperative sugar factory that was to come up at the location.
Pawar said, “A sugar factory was to come up at the site, and I was the chief guest and had even laid the foundation stone. By the time I finished my speech, the people got angry when I said the factory wouldn’t come up here despite laying the foundation stone.”
The former Union minister added that he then convinced local leaders that the government had planned to set up an IT park and that Hinjawadi was the most suitable land for the purpose. He said the farmers got compensatory land elsewhere for the factory, which was eventually built and operated successfully.
