“Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara, Gadchiroli and other districts of Maharashtra will get their own Udyog Bhavans soon,” said Uday Samant, Minister of Industries and Marathi Language in an address to the media at District Niyojan Bhavan, Sadar, on Sunday. Samant spoke on various issues pertaining to industries, especially, in Vidarbha, during the address. The proposed Udyog Bhavans will encompass offices of various schemes pertaining to the industries. He said, “In these Udyog Bhavans, we will set up offices of schemes that are related to setting up the industries to provide one stop solution for anybody and everybody who has an industry or plans to set up one.” Samant also stated that the Government will acquire 10,000 acres of land in Amravati, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur and Gondia districts. He stated that the acquired land would be used to set up industries and create an industrial ‘eco-system’ to boost employment and output. “The face of Gadchiroli has drastically changed for good due to the efforts made by the Government. JSW is set to construct a huge steel plant in Gadchiroli and has already made strides in that direction. We aim to not only erect a plant there, but also create an eco-system suitable for industries, which will ultimately boost employment,” said Uday Samant.

 

 Minister Samant said that the Government will form a committee that will oversee the implementation of the MoU signed by the Government. He stated that the current Government has a positive MoU implementation rate of “85% - 90%”, and, with the help of the committee, which he himself will preside over, the rate will increase further. 

 

 

In line with the global technological trends, the Government plans to introduce an AI policy in Maharashtra soon, informed Uday Samant. This will effectively make Maharashtra the first State to implement an AI policy if the formulation of the policy goes as planned. “A committee will be formed soon over the same. The policy will help State land industries in the field of artificial intelligence,” he said. 

 

 

Addressing the issue of vacant, but purchased land in MIHAN, Uday Samant said that the Government will try to reallocate the land. “We will connect with the owners of unutilised land in Mihan. We will try to understand the reasons and if nothing satisfactory comes out of it, we will reallocate the land to somebody who is willing to set up an industry there,” said Samant.

 

 

The minister also stated that cotton has use-case in defence and that, defence industries are willing to buy cotton from Vidarbha. He said, “We have been approached by defence industries for the requirement of cotton. They have informed us that cotton has usage in production of weapons, etc. and that, they would be interested in procuring large quantities of cotton from the cotton belts of Vidarbha.”