 "(From left) Abhimanyu, industry minister, Haryana and Manohar Lal Khattar chief minister, Haryana, at a press meet in Kolkata (pic: Subrata Majumder)")
The maiden investor summit in the state of Haryana will be organised as per schedule on 7th and 8th March in Gurgaon. The caste-based violence and stir for reservation by the Jat community in the last few days had put a question mark on the event as trade and industry has been badly hit during the widespread agitation in the state.
Loss of lives and extensive damage caused to public and private property indicating a complete failure of law and order in the state for three days have dampened the enthusiasm for the event and the NRI Summit that was announced to be held on 9 March has been called off.
The sources in the industries department confirmed that it would be a low key affair to facilitate the formal MoU signing ceremonies and serious business deliberations.Talking exclusively to Business Standard the Industry Minister Captain Abhimanyu endorsed that the intelligence forces in the state were not able to gauge the extent of mob rage and the preparedness for crime by the organised vandals.
The industry in the state is shocked over the failure of law and order in the state. The industry representatives from the exiting outfits in Haryana say that the rampage in Haryana during the agitation would be an image spoiler. "We are still in trauma and cannot think of resuming our factories", says an industrialist in Panipat, the textile hub of Haryana. "The new industry will come only when the existing industry is happy so there is no relevance of holding the summit when the government is not sensitised towards the existing investor," lamented an industrialist from Rohtak.
The state government had been running a high profile campaign for the past two months and raod shows were organized in US, Canada, China and Korea apart from important towns of India. The Industries department claims to have generated 2,50,000 cr of investment proposals and more are pouring in. The big players who have committed to invest in Haryana refused to comment on the investment prospects in the backdrop of the recent agitations. The big ticket investments have been promised by the groups like Wanda Group of China, M3M Priavte Limited, Vatika Group, Coke, Cargill, Airtel and It and renewable energy players. How many of those would fructify remains to be seen.
