Gujarat forms ministerial committee to fight economic recession

Vadodara, Nov 21 (UNI) The Gujarat government has formed a cabinet sub-committee, headed by finance minister Vajubhai Vala, to take stock of the global recession and financial crisis and take appropriate steps to safeguard the state's economy.

According to state's urban development and water resources minister Nitin Patel the committee would be taking all possible steps to minimise the impact of the present global recession on the state and its industries as the export was bound to suffer.

The minister, who was addressing central Gujarat entrepreneurs at a promotional campaign today, for next month's Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit-2009 to be held at Ahmedabad, also expressed grave concern over the fixation of minimum support price for cotton at a very high rate by the centre prior to the recession.

Mr Patel demanded that the centre must come forward to protect the interests of the cotton growers in Gujarat, which is the second largest cotton producer in the world, as procurement of their produce by government agencies as well as their export had come to a grinding halt.

Speaking on the occasion, state industries and energy minister Saurav Patel expressed optimism that despite of the economic recession, Gujarat would continue to maintain its double digit growth rate for the sixth consecutive year this fiscal, thanks to the success of its last three Global Investors' summits.

Claiming that Gujarat was a most favoured destination for industries in the country, the minister said the government was contemplating a proposal to upgrade its 180 GIDCs at par with international standard with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore.

It had also been decided to create a land bank of 25,000 hectares in Surashtra and other regions of the state for development of industries, he said adding that Gujarat would become a power surplus state with the new capacity addition of 2,500 MW in the next couple of years.

Health and tourism minister Jaynarayan Vyas said this was the right time for investment in industrial-friendly Gujarat, as the government was ready to go out of way to provide good infrastructure and all other facilities for development of Industries.

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