Nagpur: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari came down heavily on the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) for the pathetic condition of internal roads at its Hingna estate, saying they were worse than those in rural areas.
Addressing the MIDC Industries Association (MIA) event on Saturday, Gadkari also urged the industrialists present to form their own society and source recycled non-potable water for their factories from Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) rather than rely on MIDC.
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About the internal roads in the Hingna estate, Gadkari said, driving on these roads is worse than walking on dirt roads in remote villages. Seemingly displeased with the maintenance of the industrial estate, Gadkari also pointed out the jurisdictional war over the roads.
“MIDC says the road maintenance is the job of the Public Works Department (PWD), while PWD says otherwise. Both put the ball in each other’s court and nothing gets done,” said Gadkari.
He recalled that even the external road was in bad condition. “While travelling towards my village I would pass through and realized that in the turf war between PWD and MIDC, the roads won’t get taken care of. So, I got the funds from the Centre and concretized the external road. Now, there is a thick layer of concrete and for the next 50 years you won’t see potholes on it,” said Gadkari.
The Minister also pulled up an MIDC official present among the audience and said people expected better from them. “Does it feel right when we see roads in such a bad condition?” said Gadkari.
Talking about use of water in manufacturing units, Gadkari said industrialists can purchase non-potable water from NMC. “Civic body is treating waste water and selling it to Koradi Power Plant and others for hundreds of crores. Industrialists can form a society and enter into a contract with NMC to buy this treated water. Don’t rely on MIDC for all this,” said Gadkari.
He added that the water being used by MIDC was from Ambazari Lake. Gadkari said, “The capacity of lake will be increased so that more water is available. Waste water from Wadi will be treated through a new project, and recycled water can also be used.”
Garbage piling up in the industrial estate is also a concern which people there shared with Gadkari. P Mohan, honorary secretary of MIDC Industries Association, said, “We requested Gadkari to look into the cleanliness aspect of the industrial estate on a priority basis.”
The Union Road Transport and Highways Minister assured the MIDC plot owners to resolve all the issues related to power, water and roads in the area, on the priority basis.
Gadkari said that, since MIDC is adjacent to Nagpur, it is not possible to expand it. The surrounding villages have turned into slums. A lot of space is lying vacant due to lack of attention of MIDC. Roads are getting damaged. He suggested that MIA should form an independent organisation and engage a contract for water use of Ambazari lake. On behalf of MIA, Mohan Pandey, Principal Adviser of LIT University, Ajay Deshpande of LIT Alumni Association along with the office bearer of the association for Industrial Development, Girdhari Mantri, Dr Vijay Sharma, Rashmi Kulkarni etc. were felicitated on this occasion. MIA Executive President Yogesh Kataria, Vice President Arvind Kalia, Ganesh Lal Jaiswal, Nagaraj Reddy were present on this occasion. The program was moderated by Deepali Ghonge while P Mohan proposed the vote of thanks.
