CM Shinde rejects Sena's claim that MTDC’s submersible vessel project could go to Gujarat

Mumbai, Dec 31 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Vaibhav Naik has alleged that a project to have a battery-operated submersible vehicle for tourists in the Arabian Sea is “most likely” to be shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat, a claim dismissed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

According to Naik, the battery-powered submersible vehicle project was approved by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation in 2018 and the then government under Uddhav Thackeray also made a financial provision for it in the state’s budget in 2019.

However, the project never took off and it is “most likely to be shifted to Gujarat”, he claimed.

His party colleague and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut demanded that the state government “clarify the confusion” over the matter.

“This is broad daylight dacoity... They are taking away jobs of Marathi people,” he alleged.

However, CM Shinde dismissed Naik’s claims.

Shinde told reporters, “The project belongs to Maharashtra and it is going nowhere else. Do not trust any other claims about it. I have spoken to industries minister Uday Samant about it. The project is not going out of the state.” Earlier, the opposition had alleged that the diamond industry was shifting to Surat in Gujarat and the government was unable to do anything about it. It had also levelled similar allegations against the Shinde government over Vedanta-Foxconn, Tata-Airbus and bulk drug park projects. PTI

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