Vedanta Group had ‘promised’ to set up Rs 60,000 crore LCD Display plant at Butibori near Nagpur five years ago but there is no sign of the project
Nagpur: Is the Vedanta Group of Industries hell bent on harming the Maharashtra State with one dubious move or another? Adding more fuel to the political fire raging over the Vedanta Group-Foxconn project being shifted to Gujarat, the Group has not yet started its Rs 60,000 crore LCD Display plant at Butibori near Nagpur as promised five years ago, according to a report in a local Navbharat newspaper by Neeraj Nandan.
According to the report, the Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agrawal has even taken the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for a ride by ‘cocking a snook (Thenga Dighaya) as far as the Butibori project is concerned. Agrawal had promised Gadkari that apart from Nagpur, an LCD Display plant with Rs 60,000 crore investment would be set up at Butibori. But even after five years, there is no visible sign of the project, said the report.
Notably, Gadkari used to ‘proudly’ inform various programmes that he had a meeting with Anil Agrawal in London. The Minister would say that Agrawal was inviting him for a meeting over tea but he was refusing.”I had put a condition that I will come for tea only if Vedanta set up the Display Unit in Nagpur. Agrawal had promised me to set up the Unit in Nagpur and now he can come for tea,” Gadkari had stated.
According to the report, after meeting with Agrawal, Gadkari had directed the MIDC, DIC and other concerned authorities to reserve an additional 300-acre land at Butibori area. For this project, the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also making a lot of efforts. He had also followed up the project many times and was working shoulder to shoulder with Gadkari.
A team had carried out a survey:
At that time, according to the report, the MIDC officials had shown a sight to the visiting team of Vedanta for the project. The Vedanta team had reportedly assured and even said that they liked the location of Nagpur and the site at Butibori. But for some unspecified reasons, the project has remained on papers only, the report in Navbharat claimed.
Ray of hope:
Meanwhile, as the shifting of the Vedanta Group-Foxconn to Gujarat snowballed into a major controversy, the Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal attempted to cal the tempers by promising projects even for Maharashtra. Agarwal has reportedly ‘promised’ to set up an electronics unit in Maharashtra. The announcement has been welcomed by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Following the announcement, hope for the Vidarbhaites has also risen. They are confident that the Deputy Chief Minister will not leave a stone unturned to bring the project to Nagpur.
