Mumbai loses financial capital status in Fadnavis’s tenure, says former CM Prithviraj Chavan

Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, on Wednesday, alleged that due to poor vision and planning of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government, Mumbai failed to maintain its position as the financial capital of India. Even the economic and industrial growth rate of Maharashtra came down in the last four years, he said.

Recently, UK-based Oxford Economics report pointed out that Mumbai was no more the financial capital of the country and that the centre is shifting to Gurugram and Delhi, said Chavan. 

Chavan was in the city to attend a private function. He spoke to media persons and said that instead of Maharashtra, many industries were going to Gujarat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is shifting the projects to Gujarat and the chief minister did not dare to question Modi over the issue, he added. 

During the UPA government, the International Finance Service Centre was planned at Mumbai. However, it was later shifted to Ahmedabad. Questions were also raised in the Parliament when finance minister Arun Jaitley announced that there would be no other centre in the country till the Ahmedabad one was available for operations in full capacity.

Chavan said that even after two years to the launch of the state government’s Make in Maharashtra programme in Mumbai, its achievements have still not been discussed. Chief minister Fadnavis needs to announce the figures, as well as detailed locations of the projects under it, Chavan added. 

He alleged that the project was a failure, which was why, instead of retaining the Make in Maharashtra name, the state government organised the Magnetic Maharashtra event. The name Magnetic Maharashtra was given during the Congress and NCP government and was now accepted by the BJP government, he said.

Chavan said, “Chief minister announced to create 30 lakh jobs during the Make in Maharashtra event, but hardly three to four lakh jobs were created in the state as per the government figures. “The government had announced many mega projects in the state, where are these projects?” 

Hyperloop cannot be a priority in the state 

Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan criticised the Maharashtra government over the hyperloop project which is planned between Pune and Mumbai. He said that this project will help to cover the distance in only 15 minutes, but the project cost was very high. Even with this new technology, many issues needed to be address, he said.

Bullet train and hyperloop cannot become the priority of the government when there are other crucial things, like completing irrigation and other basic projects. 

Speaking about the ongoing PNB fraud case, the former chief minister demanded that finance minister Arun Jaitley resign as soon as possible. After the case was exposed, Jaitley has been calm while the other ministers who are not related to this sector tried to defend the government, he said. “It is Jaitley’s responsibility and he needs to address each and every question raised about this case,” Chavan said.