State Congress has asked Chief Minister Raghubar Das to clarify his Government’s stand about the status of over 100 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that were signed between different corporate houses and previous BJP-led coalition Governments.
State Congress secretary S R A Rizwi Chabban said that the newly appointed Chief Minister has expressed his desire to promote industrial development in Jharkhand and is also willing to sign MoU with several corporate houses like Adani Group of Gujarat. But before the Government pens fresh MoUs, Das must provide clarity about 150 MoUs that were signed by Tatas, Mittal, Jindal groups but none was implemented.
“It is really surprising despite signing several MoUs the BJP Governments have failed to take any step for implementation of the agreements. Repeated Governments have only made promises and have done nothing to fulfill those promises,” said the secretary.
The senior leader said that that the MoUs worth Rupees three lakh crores including `42,000 crore for setting up Greenfield steel plant in Tentoposhi in adjoining Seraikela-Kharswan district, `40,000 crore by steel giant laxmi Narayan Mittal, `35,000 crore by Jindals and `15,000 crore by Tata Power.
Chabban said that Das was also a part of the cabinets headed by Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda, and he must speak out status of those MoUs.
He also said that the BJP State Government had promised of creating land bank in Adityapur Industrial Area but no step seems to have been taken so far. “land is the crucial aspect of any expansion plan and if the government doesn’t pay attention on time than hardly there is any reason for the entrepreneurs to stay for long,” he said.
He said that industrialists have been seeking cooperation from the State Government in addressing their grievances particularly on specific issues of land, electricity water and road.