Mumbai, March 12: The governor's address on the opening day of the Budget session of the state legislature on Monday was silent on the ongoing crisis over the Dabhol power project and the inability of both state government and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board to bear additional burden on account of the purchase of "costly" power in future.Instead, state governor PC Alexander, in his 45-minute address to the members of both the houses, touched upon the soft issue of promotion of private investment in non-conventional energy sources for the generation of 443 MW through wind power. The projects, with a capacity of 154 MW in the wind power sector, have already been commissioned.
Dr Alexander said that the Democratic Front (DF) government has also approved bagasse-based cogeneration projects of around 170 MW capacity which are under commissioning. The last unit of state-IV of the Koyana project which was commissioned this year would create an additional capacity of 250 MW.
Referring to the state government's "populist" announcement, the governor said that the government has decided to give subsidy of Rs 800 crore to farmers and powerloom weavers in order to reduce the impact of the tariff revision by the Maharshtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).
Dr Alexander set at rest speculations about Maharashtra losing its number one position and said, "It continues to be the premier industrial state and also the favoured destination amongst foreign and domestic investors. The number of industrial entrepreneurs memoranda increased from 7,605 to 8,338, with an additional investment of Rs 22,031 crore during last year. With this investment, total investment increased to Rs 1,97,883 crore from August 1991 to December 2000.
The governor said that the number of foreign direct investment approvals is 1,973, with an investment of Rs 48,153 crore, which is the highest amongst all the states within the nation during the same period.
According to the governor, special economic zones, as per the new industrial policy, would be set up at Aurangabad and Nagpur, in addition to the one at Dronagiri, Navi Mumbai, which is currently being developed by the state-run City and Industrial Development Corporation.
The government has also initiated review of the Industrial Disputes Act and the Contract Labour Act and Procedures. Dr Alexander said that the government has adopted a "Vision Paper Maharashtra 2005," indicating a programme to develop various physical and service infrastructure facilities and enhance the development of human resources.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
