The Hindu : National : Narayan Rane threatens to quit

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Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
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Narayan Rane threatens to quit

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has threatened to quit over a Cabinet decision on Tuesday to allot 100 hectares of prime land to Videocon Industries to set up a TFT-LCD panel unit in Navi Mumbai.

He told reporters that he would approach the Congress high command for an appointment and submit his resignation as he no longer wanted to continue in the Cabinet.

He had been raising issues of ‘non-performance’ of the government in the last three years but now had reached a point when he wanted to quit, he said.

Last December, Mr. Rane created a stir when he met party president Sonia Gandhi and threatened to resign as he was unhappy with the government’s functioning. Despite his running battle with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, he had continued in the party. Videocon did not need so much land for this unit, according to him. The Cabinet ignored his dissent and decided to allot the land belonging to the City and Industrial Development Corporation to Videocon. There are only three countries in the world producing TFT-LCD (thin film transistor liquid crystal display). This unit with an investment of Rs. 8000 crore will make TFT-LCD panels and will be the first of its kind in India. The company also promises 10,000 jobs. About 50 per cent of its products will be exported.

Mr. Rane attacked the government for selling the land for Rs. 300 crore when it could have been auctioned for at least Rs. 3,000 crore. The land spread over three villages — Vahalgaon, Kamothe Node and Karanjade in Navi Mumbai — was in a residential zone. He said it was unfair to favour an industrialist. The land valuation was all wrong and it was even less than the current residential price. If the land was auctioned for a larger amount, the state would have some money to pay for pressing projects, he said.

The state was facing a drought and had no money for some critical projects, he said. Listing his grievances, he said that Rs. 11 crore was overdue in the package for fisherfolk in the Konkan, and there was a backlog of Rs. 300 crore in the irrigation projects in the Konkan as well.

The government was cash-strapped even to pay its diesel bills and it could not even implement the loan waiver properly, he said.

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