Vidarbha has huge potential to attract industries: Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari. File Pic

Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday that Maharashtra's Vidarbha region has the potential to attract industries and investments. He also asserted that Gadchiroli will become the highest tax-paying district in the state in five years, reported the PTI.

Nitin Gadkari was addressing a gathering at the 'Khasdar Audyogik Mahotsav-Advantage Vidarbha', an industrial expo and exhibition, in Nagpur.

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The Vidarbha region in the eastern part of the state comprises 11 districts, including Nagpur and Gadchiroli.

The Union minister of road transport and highways, who hails from Nagpur in Maharashtra, said that Vidarbha has the potential to attract industries as it now has good infrastructure of water, power, transport and telecommunication, according to the PTI.

He said that 75 per cent of the minerals in Maharashtra are in Vidarbha.

So many industries have started coming to Gadchiroli that it will become the highest tax-paying district in the state in the next five years, he said, according to the news agency.

Nitin Gadkari also said that there is a huge potential for investment in the tourism sector in Vidarbha, which has popular tiger reserves.

The minister said Nagpur is becoming an aviation hub with many big companies from the sector having their units at MIHAN (Multi Modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur) in the city. He also said that Rafale fighter jets will be manufactured at the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited unit in Nagpur.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday launched a programme to encourage financially well-off citizens to give up benefits that they enjoy under various government schemes, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, the programme, 'Dharmaveer Shri Anand Dighe Laab Samarpan Yojana', is named after Shinde's mentor late Anand Dighe, an immensely popular Shiv Sena leader from Thane district in Maharashtra.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion in Thane, CM Eknath Shinde said that his government is committed to the welfare of society and considers the people of the entire state as one family. He talked about the 'decisive' step taken by the government over the Maratha issue, reported the PTI.

He also paid tribute at Anand Ashram, which was the office from where Dighe used to run the Shiv Sena in the region, on his mentor's birth anniversary.

(with PTI inputs)