Fadnavis Government allotted land: The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis has come under the scanner after allotting a land in the state to the British company. The matter has come to light when Fadnavis government allotted land of 10 acres in Aurangabad to a blacklisted British company, De La Rue for printing both India and foreign currency.
Ministry of Home affairs had already blacklisted the company in 2011
CM Fadnavis is known for his honest image, but with this decision he has given a chance to opposition to attack his government. The British company De La Rue is one of the prominent names in notes printing industry which has banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2011 over serious allegations. Despite Blacklisted Maharashtra government provided land to the company.
The company was accused of providing the same currency paper to India and Pakistan. Not only the provided the same paper, it also provided defected currency paper to India worth around Rs 300corore. The defects were detected following tests conducted by the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL)
The Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse exposed an English website that the agreement between BJP government in Maharashtra and De La Rue was signed around six months ago.
A 10-acre plot has been allotted to De La Rue under this agreement at Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation complex in Aurangabad. The setup cost for currency printing will be approximately Rs 700 crore.
Shiv Sena Hemant Godse revealed information to a web portal about allotment of land
It is worth mentioning here that this is the first time that a foreign company has been allowed to print the currency notes in India. Hemant Godse mentioned that he had shared the information with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley when he visited Nashik in December for an event.
He informed Jaitley that the company had previously been blacklisted by the MHA in 2011. Despite all no action was taken by the Maharashtra government to cancel the agreement with the blacklisted company.
On the other hand, Home ministry too has not intervened in the issue yet. Godse claimed that Jaitley informed him that the company officials were trying to meet him since 2014 when the Modi government came to the power at the centre.
“De La Rue representatives have told Maharashtra government officials that 90 percent of its printing efforts will be to produce foreign currency, though the company may also print 10 percent of Indian notes at the Aurangabad plant,” Godse told The Quint adding that the company believes that its labour cost will be very low in India.
