Vidarbha Council asks MPs to push cargo project

Vidarbha Economic Development Council (VED), a local body promoting development of Vidarbha, has appealed to Members of Parliament from central India who have been inducted into the Union Cabinet to speed up the cargo project in the city.

The project has been hanging fire since years and with two ministers from the region getting the concerned portfolios, the project should be kickstarted immediately, VED President Vilas Kale said while addressing a press conference.

"With Kamal Nath as the Commerce Minister, Praful Patel as the Civil Aviation Minister and Vilas Muttemwar as the Non-Conventional Energy Resources Minister, now nothing should come in the way of flagging off the project. Only political will and sincerity is needed," he said.

The cargo hub (multi-modal international hub airport at Nagpur) awaits technical approval from the ministry of civil aviation and special economic zone approval from the ministry of commerce, Kale said.

As these two ministries are in the hands of MPs from central India, people are hopeful that the project would see the light of the day. Moreover, the same party rules in the state and the Centre also. All conditions are now favourable to the project, he said.

Kale said that little progress has been made since a high-level meeting was held on March 29 during last year to speed up the project.

The appointment of R C Sinha as vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation is a welcome development but he is yet to set up his office in Nagpur. The government must arm Sinha with the finances required as well as the long overdue state and Central clearances, he said.

State budget allots meagre funds: The Maharashtra government has provided only Rs 2 crore in the current Budget for acquiring 2,780 hectare land that would be required for the cargo hub project.

This is a far cry from the budgetary allocation of Rs 132 crore recommended by a high-level meeting chaired by chief secretary Ajit Nimbalkar on March 29, 2003, VED President Vilas Kale said at a press conference.

"The measly allocation shows that the Maharashtra government is not serious in implementing the project," he said.

The government had earlier provided Rs 40 crore for land acquisition. The process, however, was stopped by the High Court which said that the government must first allocate the money for paying and resettling the project affected people, Kale said.