Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday refuted reports that the BJP-led Centre was planning to shift the office of the Textile Commissioner from Mumbai to Delhi, even as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) accused the ruling party of “plotting” to devalue the industrial importance of Maharashtra in general and Mumbai in particular.
“There has been no decision to shift the office of the Textile Commissioner to Delhi. The office has a staff of 500 people. Only the Commissioner and five other authorities have been asked to work in Delhi for some days at the headquarters owing to the restructuring of the Textile Ministry,” Mr. Fadnavis said, issuing a statement in the Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Fadnavis said that this temporary arrangement was to make more efficient the working of the Textile Ministry, and to frame some policies regarding concessions to the textile industry.
However, the opposition MVA said that the BJP government in Delhi always had an eye on Mumbai and Maharashtra and accused the Modi government of deliberately trying to lessen the importance of Mumbai and the state.
“Ever since the Shinde-Fadnavis government seized power in the State, important projects due to come to Maharashtra have been shifted to Gujarat, leaving the State poorer. Now, a decision to shift the office of Textile Commissioner from Mumbai to Delhi has been taken,” Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole said.
Stating that Mumbai was the financial capital of the country and a global city, Mr. Patole said that Maharashtra had always been at the forefront of the country’s economy.
“But the BJP has been steadily trying to reduce Maharashtra’s importance for the past few years. After the Shinde government came to power, big projects such as Vedanta-Foxconn, the bulk Drug Park, Tata Airbus, among others, moved out of Maharashtra. Earlier, during the Fadnavis government, the International Financial Services Centre located at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex was shifted to Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The office of Patents, Designs and Trademarks shifted to Delhi, the National Marine Police Academy shifted from Palghar to Gujarat,” Mr. Patole said, remarking that since “Mumbai could not be taken to Gujarat, the BJP planned to destroy the city”.
