After 8 MoUs of Rs 2000 cr, Deshmukh to meet Ratan Tata

Mumbai, Oct 2 (UNI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today said after visiting three countries during his 10-day tour of Europe, he appealed foreign investors to invest in the state.

He said he would meet Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata within a week's time over the Nano small car project.

Talking to reporters here on his arrival from the Europe tour during which visited Switzerland, UK and Italy, Mr Deshmukh said his tour was a success as he had signed eight memoranda of understanding (MoU) worth Rs 2,000 crore.

He said he received a letter from Ratan Tata and would meet him within a week as per convenience.

He added that during the visit, he and the Industries Minister also met several prominent businessmen and officials of various companies on the sidelines of the 2008 Maharashtra Investment Forum.

Among them were Arcelor-Mittal's chairman Laxmi Nivas Mittal, Pramod Mittal and Vinod Mittal, and Philip Boovert, Director of JCB, among others.

About the Dow project, Mr Deshmukh said a committee, headed by a retired judge, would be appointed to look into the demands of the members of the Varkari community in Pune district, who are opposing the US-based Dow Chemicals facility.

He informed that already two committees are working on the project. The company will invest Rs 450 crore in the project and would generate jobs for 400 engineers. There would be no pollution due to this facility, he said.

Rubbishing media reports that the district collector had conducted an opinion poll in the Raigad district as to whether 22 villages were in favour of the special economic zone (SEZ) or not, Mr Deshmukh said it was not an opinion poll but an administrative process and there was no question of conducting an opinion poll on any project.

Referring to a question on the law and order situation in the state, the Chief Minister said incidents like bomb blast in Malegaon and the riots in Thane need to be tackled with iron hand and added that already deputy chief minister R R Patil had visited these places and the stern action will be taken against the culprits.

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