Senior Congress leader and member of the core committee of the Indian National Congress, Randeep Singh Surjewala on Sunday alleged that foreign direct investment (FDI) in Haryana has been completely eroded due to the poor functioning of the present State Government.
“Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Cabinet colleagues had wasted crores of hard earned money of the people on a number of foreign tours one after another. At the same time, no single FDI has been invested in the State during last two years,” he said.
Referring to the information provided by Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) in response to a RTI, Haryana’s former Industries Minister Surjewala said that during the first two years of the second term of the Congress government from 2009 to 2011, the state received Rs 1,086 crores as FDI, which more than doubled to Rs 2,495 crore in next two years i.e. 2012 to 2014.
After the formation of BJP led Haryana Government, investment to the tune of merely Rs 92 crore came in the state between 2015 and 2016, and this figure dropped to Rs 41 crore between 2016 and 2017. Between 2017 and 2018, FDI of not even one rupee was received, which clearly shows the inexperience and ill functioning of the current BJP Government, the Congress leader said.
Surjewala, who is an MLA from Haryana’s Kaithal also said that the Manohar Lal Khattar government had claimed to implement several schemes to promote foreign capital investment in the state through Happening Haryana and spending hard earned money of people on dozens of foreign jaunts.
But now the reply of RTI has clearly revealed that how Chief Minister, his ministers, other representatives and senior officials had wasted crores of rupees in the name of Happening Haryana. The Congress government had made the state number one in terms of all round development and investment but now the BJP government has declined the state to zero figure in development during its four and half years regime, causing the youth of the State to suffer unemployment, he said.
Surjewala said for inviting investment, the state requires peace, mutual brotherhood and good law and order situation, which the current State Government has failed to provide. On the contrary, BJP has let the riots and unrest every year due as it follows Gujarat model wherein the people are divided on the basis of caste, creed and religion. Such riots have brought bad name to Haryana’s name at the national and international level and which resulted in stalling of FDI & other investments, he added.
While questioning the Chief Minister, the Congress leader said that apart from touring the US, Canada, Israel, UK, Japan, China,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, UK and Dubai, CM Manohar Lal should apprise thepeople how much investment came from foreign visits, Happening Haryana, Overseas Conferences and roadshows. New investment claims worth Rs 6 lakh crore have proved to be completely hollow and baseless, he added.
Surjewala said the foreign visits and conferences of the Chief Minister and other ministers need public scrutiny, so that frauds of crores of rupees could be exposed.