'Company officials last year rued 'unfavourable' investment climate in Maha'

Amid a row over TataAirbus picking Gujarat to set up the aircraft manufacturing project Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said officials of the consortium had last year rued the lack of conducive atmosphere in the stateAmid a row he claimed the decision to shift the project was taken when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief ministerThe Shiv Senaled Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government was in power in Maharashtra from November 2019 to June 2022Fadnavis revelation came amid a tussle between the ruling Eknath Shinde dispensation and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackerayled opposition over the Rs 22000 crore project to manufacture C295 military transport aircraft moving from Maharashtra to Vadodara in GujaratI had personally invited the chiefs of the Tata Airbus Defence projects on April 24 2021 at my residence Sagar despite being a leader of opposition in the state I spoke to them and told them as a senior leader I will speak with the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to keep the project in MaharashtraAlso read HC extends stay on order directing ASI survey at Gyanvapi mosque complexHowever they told me yahan ka mahol investment jaise nahi hai Devendraji the atmosphere in the state is not worth an investment he told reportersFadnavis who was the chief minister from 2014 to 2019 said he was following up with the companies since 2016 and kept doing it till 2019After the new government Uddhavled Maha Vikas Aghadi was formed I noticed some decisions taken earlier were being changed he allegedFadnavis said in one of the early meetings with officials of the companies TataAirbus consortium he had offered extra facilities to ensure the project remains inMaharashtra but the state government that took over in late 2019 did nothing to retain the projectI had even passed a message in 2021 to then state nodal investment promotion agency MIDC CEO to pass it on to state industries minister and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray However no action was taken Not a single letter was sent to keep the project hereThe MoU signing and the decision to shift the project to Gujarat was taken during Thackerays tenure as chief minister of Maharashtra Fadnavis saidThe senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader went on to allege the project was possibly opposed by the then state government as it was coming to Nagpur which is his home districtSome kind of fake narrative is being pushed in society by the opposition which wasted its twoandhalfyear tenure only in criticising Prime Minister Narendra ModiFrench aviation firm Safran opened its aircraft MRO facility in Hyderabad in Telangana in 2021 But the opposition is blaming us ShindeBJP dispensation for losing that project he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever