Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT have criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led MahaYuti government over the closure of 36,211 companies shut down in five years due to its flawed policies.
Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal on Friday launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP-led MahaYuti alliance, alleging that claims of lakhs of crores in investment and massive job creation in the state have proven completely false.
Terming the state government’s industrial policies as “fraudulent and ineffective”, Sapkal said that due to rampant corruption, commission culture, and the high-handedness of ruling party associates, industries in Maharashtra are either shutting down or migrating to other states.
“Data submitted in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra reveals that 36,211 private companies have closed down in Maharashtra over the last five financial years. Shockingly, 12,181 of these closed entities were located in Mumbai alone, the economic capital of the country,” he said, adding that “this clearly demonstrates that the BJP-led government’s policies are entirely hostile to business and industry”.
Rebuffing claims made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that Maharashtra continues to top in the registration of new companies and favoured destination, Sapkal emphasised that government figures themselves expose the state’s economic mismanagement.
“The Minister’s (Harsh Malhotra’s) written response in Parliament highlights that the highest rate of company closures occurred along the Mumbai–Pune–Nashik industrial belt. Yet, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis refuses to acknowledge reality, resorting to wordplay by claiming these were merely ‘defunct’ companies. Playing with words cannot hide the reality of industrial shutdown. Given the surging youth unemployment in the state, the question remains where are the promised investments and jobs?”
Sapkal also accused the state government of facilitating corruption through land transfers to favoured private entities.
He alleged that while local industries are collapsing, the state government leased 1,500 acres of agricultural corporation land in Shrirampur taluka of Ahilyanagar district to Nibe Group—a private firm reportedly associated with a state Minister—for non-agricultural use on a 50-year lease without inviting any public tenders.
“Handing over government land to private businessmen without competitive bidding is blatant corruption,” Sapkal asserted.
“Industries are not being established, nor are jobs being generated on these lands. Having monetised land in Mumbai, the state government is now targeting rural areas, handing over land in Gadchiroli to mining operators and now parceling out Ahilyanagar. The MahaYuti government is merely distributing land and indulging in graft under the pretext of industrial development. This decision must be revoked immediately,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena-UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray criticised the state government, saying this figure of closure of companies in the state should get all of us thinking.
Nearly 36,211 private companies have shut down in Maharashtra or shut their operations in Maharashtra and moved out, he said.
“Ease of Compliance and decriminalisation of industry ops is still pending. Civic issues, infrastructure issues haunt the industries in major industry belts like Chakan, Hinjewadi, Pimpri- Chinchwad, Nashik Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation industrial estates. The political instability, local dirty politics in the past 5 years,” Aaditya Thackeray noted.
“Infrastructural mess — potholes, delayed road works and chaos. Corruption and administrative mess — massive corruption, intra-department and interdepartment rivalries. Ask any industrialist in private and these are the issues they bring up for not being able to sustain under the current (MahaYuti) regime,” he remarked.
–IANS
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