2nd blow to Maha: Tata-Airbus’ ₹22k cr IAF deal flies off to Guj

Post Vedanta, Shinde Min Had Vowed To Land It

- Prafulla Marpakwar

Just one-and-a-half months after the Rs 1.5 lakh crore Vedanta-Foxconn project went to Gujarat, the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government came under fresh attack from the opposition on Thursday as Gujarat lapped up the Rs 22,000 crore Tata-Airbus project for manufacture of 56 military transport aircraft that will replace Indian Air Force’s ageing Avro fleet.

While the project, which promises thousands of jobs, comes as a boost for Gujarat ahead of assembly polls there, for the four-month-old Balasahebanchi Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, it is yet another blow, that too after industries minister Uday Samant of the Shinde Sena said on September 15 that though the state had lost the Vedanta project, it would secure the Tata-Airbus project to produce military aircraft in Nagpur.

However, on Thursday, Samant told TOI there was no proposal to set up the TataAirbus project in Nagpur.

‘MIHAN IN NAGPUR WAS WELL SUITED AS A SITE’

Mumbai/New Delhi: Responding to criticism over losing out on the Tata-Airbus project, state industries minister Uday Samant told TOI, “Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis was making all-out efforts to secure the project for Nagpur, but he was not successful.” A Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation official endorsed Samant’s statement, saying three years ago, Tata officials had visited MADC’s Nagpur office to seek information on the availability of land at Mihan, Nagpur. “They visited our office on 3-4 occasions. Subsequently, there was no response, no communication from them on requirement of land,” the official said.