A day after Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant promised to resolve all their grievances related to infrastructure; industrialists in the Chakan MIDC area who had threatened to move have decided to put their decision on hold for now. The industrialists added they will be forced to move out if the government fails to keep its promise.
“After our meeting with the Minister, the industries that had decided to move out have put their decision on hold. This decision will be on hold for a period of 10 months. This is because the state government has promised to meet all our demands in 10 months,” Shantanu Kulkarni, president of the Chakan Industrial Association, told The Indian Express on Monday.
Kulkarni said if, in 10 months, the government does not rise to their expectations, the industries that had decided to move out will take their decision.
The Association said they were happy with the government response. “The way the government moved swiftly, held a meeting, heard our grievances and made a decisive move is highly appreciated by all the industrialists in Chakan. Be it Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde or Industries Minister Uday Samant, they all responded positively to our demands. Our meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, and the government heard our demands and expectations carefully,” Kulkarni said.
The association said they were especially impressed by the response of Deputy CM Shinde. “Shinde attended our meeting through videoconferencing. When officials told him that a certain project will take six months to be completed, Shinde told them why not take three months? We liked Shinde’s response and the sense of urgency he showed,” he said.
Kulkarni said they had been protesting about the lack of proper amenities in Chakan industrial area for over a year now. “We had taken out a morcha a year ago to highlight our problems. But there was hardly any response from the government. It was only after 20 of our industrialists took a stringent stand that the government moved swiftly and took quick decisions,” he said.
After the meeting with the industrialists, the Minister announced that a committee headed by Pune district collector will look into the problems of the industrialists and resolve their grievances. “The district collector will hold a meeting of industrialists every week like the Janata Durbar,” he said.
Last week, owners of 20 industrial units had announced their decision to move out from Chakan to Khandala MIDC in Satara. “We are struggling to get proper basic amenities in Chakan MIDC area.Traffic congestion, potholes, inadequate parking, poor power supply water scarcity have hit us hard,” industrialist Dhananjay Shedbale and others had said.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar decried the government approach to the problems of the industries. “All these years, the government did not care to the demands of the industrialists. It was only after the industrialists threatened to move out, the government woke up,” he said.
Rohit Pawar said Uday Samant has been the state’s Industry Minister for five years but is busy in politics all the time. ”The Minister more involved in political business. He should state what he has actually done for businesses and the people. After industrialists held a press conference regarding the issues in Chakan MIDC, Uday Samant rushed to Chakan on a Sunday due to the panic—was he playing marbles all these days?.”
The MLA said the minister only made vague promises to the industrialists. “There was nothing concrete which came from the government. He kept saying”We will build this road, we will build that road”—it has been a shower of promises. Because Uday Samant was coming, the roads were fixed by officials by pouring asphalt.”
