Congress seeks White Paper on Gujarat's slide down from No 4 to 5

Ahmedabad, July 13 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Arjun Modhwadia today demanded a White Paper on Gujarat's economic indices as well as on Chief Minister Narendra Modi's visit to a little known Russian province of Astrakhan twice in four years.

The senior Congress leader also questioned Mr Modi's attempt to create a hype about the State's next biennial ''Investors Summit - Vibrant Gujarat'' in 2007 without enough substance.

In a statement issued here, he voiced concern at Gujarat's slide down in industrial investment from No 4 to No 5 position over the last five months, and in Industrial Proposals from No 1 to No 4.

Quoting the latest Monthly Review of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), he said industrial investments in Gujarat stood at Rs 239,991-cr, behind Orissa's Rs 266,652-cr, Maharashtra Rs 248,669-cr, Andhra Pradesh Rs 240,724-cr and Karnataka's Rs 240,639-cr.

Referring to Mr Modi's recent visit to Astrakhan accompanied by 22 industrialists, the Congress leader sought to know who would foot the Rs 2-cr bill for hiring a chartered flight, when regular flights are available at a much cheaper rate for the Russian state.

He also sought to know what had happened after Mr Modi's previous visit to Astrakhan, during when several MoUs were signed with funfare but nothing was heard afterwards.

Mr Modhwadia also expressed fears that Mr Modi might inflate figures of investement proposals to be signed during 'Vibrant Gujarat' to invite cheap publicity. It had happened in the previous two 'Vibrant Gujarat' in 2005 and 2002, when the MoUs signed during the Investors' Summit far exceded those implemented.

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