‘Instead of complaining about economic slowdown, Maharashtra will fight it’

“It is easy to torch houses but hard to ensure people have food to eat,” Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said in Aurangabad on Thursday after inaugurating an Advantage Maharashtra Expo-2020. Mr. Thackeray also said that instead of complaining about economic slowdown, Maharashtra will fight it.

Accompanied by Industries Minister Subhash Desai and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray, the Chief Minister, who is on a two-day tour of Aurangabad and Jalna districts, said, “The people of this State deal with a lot of serious issues.”

After referring to the incidents of violence across the country, Mr. Thackeray reiterated his commitment towards farmers and also said his government would ensure that not a single industry goes out of the State. “We are committed to creating economic growth in the State by assimilating agriculture and industry and acting as a catalyst between the two sectors. If we keep complaining about the economic slowdown, we won’t be able to fight it. We will fight it,” he said.

Food processing park

At the four-day expo, organised by the Marathwada Association for Small Scale Industries and Agriculture (MASSIA), 450 entrepreneurs will be showcasing their products. The expo features stalls from automobile, engineering, agriculture, animation, IT, electronics, trading, infrastructure and other sectors.

The Chief Minister announced a new food processing park in Aurangabad’s Bidkin and also reviewed various projects of Osmanabad district. He also announced a new skill development centre in the State to create skilled manpower to meet the increasing demand of industries.

“A food processing park will be established in DMIC (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor) over 500 acres, of which 100 acres will be reserved for women entrepreneurs,” the Chief Minister said.

Industry Minister Subhash Desai said three Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) areas (industrial colonies) will be established in Marathwada, and 1,018 hectares of land will be acquired for this.

The new MIDC areas will come up in Shendra, Nanded and Osmanabad, he said.

“Sixteen companies have decided to invest ₹8,360 crore in Marathwada,” Mr. Desai added.

Sunik Kirdak, convener of the exhibition, said the government should help the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector by cutting red tape. “We don’t want red carpet treatment but don’t spread thorns in the path of MSMEs. We request you to provide space for the factories which are currently operating from rented premises,” Mr. Kirdak said.

The president of MASSIA Dyandeo Rajale demanded that the Aurangabad-Pune highway should be expanded.

(With PTI inputs)