Former CM Prithviraj Chavan held Fadnavis government accountable for shifting IFSC to Gujarat
Mumbai: In a bitter attack on previous, Devendra Fadnavis led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said that it was Fadnavis government who did nothing when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decision to set up International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at Ahmedabad in Gujarat in March 2015. Chavan claimed that IFSC and the Bullet Train project are the combine part of this ploy to diminish the significance of Mumbai as the financial capital of India.
Speaking with TheNews21, Chavan rejected the allegations leveled by Devendra Fadnavis, former Chief Minister and present leader of Opposition in the state assembly, who held Congress-Nationalist Congress party coalition government answerable for shifting of IFSC in Gujarat.
Fadnavis, while speaking with regional news channels, argued that when then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) union government asked states to submit proposals to set up IFSC centre in 2007, Congress-NCP alliance government in the state did nothing. Instead, Modi, who was then chief minister of Gujarat submitted Gujarat’s proposal and acquired land of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) to set up the IFSC in Gandhinagar.
Prithviraj Chavan, who had worked in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) during UPA government in the Centre refuted the allegations made by Fadnavis. Referring to a letter dated February 19, 2007, Chavan said, ‘The High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC)’ was comprised exclusively for ‘Making Mumbai International Financial Centre’. In a letter submitted to P Chidambaram, then union minister of Finance, the HPEC had stated that ‘We summit herewith the HPEC’s Report on ‘Making Mumbai as International Financial Centre. Our choice of the term ‘International’ instead of ‘Regional’ has been explained in our report.’
The members of the HPEC committee were M Bhalchandra, CB Bhave, KV Kamath, KP Krishan (Convenor), Ravi Narain, PJ Nayak, N Mohan Raj, OP Bhatt, Bharat Doshi, Nimesh Kampani Subodh Kumar, Ms Usha Narayanan, Aditya Puri and TT Srinivasaraghavan.
Chavan said, Fadnavis should read the report of HPEC before making misleading statements. He further said, “In 2015, Modi obstinately chose Ahmedabad over Mumbai. That time, Fadnavis government was in power in the State. But, nobody from state BJP had the courage to go against Modi or speak against him. It was Fadnavis government who is fully responsible for weakening importance of Mumbai as financial capital,” blamed Chavan.
“Setting up a head office at Ahmedabad is but natural as the IFSC will be there. This was the only decision taken in October 2019 and in April 2020. This is not a big issue. The threat is that Mumbai will lose its equivalence as a financial hub,” said Chavan and added, “GIFT city has given the protection of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by the law. The financial establishments which are getting special benefits in other IFSCs such as London or Dubai will get the same facilities in Ahmedabad based IFSC. Hence, it will be attracted there and ultimately, slowly all financial center’s that are presently working from Mumbai, will be shifted to IFSC, Ahmedabad to avail several benefits,” said Chavan.
He claimed, the bullet train is the part of IFSC plans of Modi. Mumbai has International Airport. ”The investors across the globe, will reach Mumbai by aircraft and will reach Ahmedabad by bullet train in short duration journey. This is the big strategy of Modi,” claimed Chavan.
Meanwhile, referring the same report of HPEC, Fadnavis criticized then Congress-NCP led state government and said the UPA did nothing officially on that report between the years 2007 to 2014. “Narendra Modi, then CM of Gujarat had taken a decision to set up IFSC in Ahmedabad during the ‘Vibrant Gujarat Summit’ and he had set up a nodal agency ‘ECIDI’ for the planning of IFSC. Modi government was ready with the plan by the year 2012 and had started the work,” said Fadnavis,
He further said, the union government made an amendment in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) act in 2015 in accordance with IFSC and then submitted the proposal of ‘Gujarat International Finance Tech-city (GIFT).
“Maharashtra state too had submitted its report to the Centre. However, the proposal of Gujarat was satisfactory and was fulfilling several norms and hence, was moved forward. On the other hand, due to the compulsion of land admeasuring 50 hectare in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) mandated in Mumbai created obstacles. Our government found an alternative solution and had submitted a fresh proposal to the Centre,” said Fadnavis.
Former CM Fadnavis recalled that union government had considered IFSC at BKC while planning a station for bullet train at BKC. “The design of the proposed station was drawn supposing the IFSC building. However, then union finance minister late Arun Jaitley had said that his ministry was working on whether two IFSC could functional simultaneously. Our government had summited the report stating two IFSC can work jointly and the same proposal is still pending for the consideration of the union government,” said Fadnavis.
Fadnavis said that Mumbai’s claim on IFSC is natural and viable. If the government has will power, it could be set up in Mumbai. The centre can be functional in two cites simultaneously,” he said.
