No anger in Gujarat on note recall: CM Vijay Rupani

GANDHINAGAR: There is no slump in Gujarat’s economic activity and all Gujaratis are firmly backing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation drive to root out corruption and black money from the system, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Thursday.
In an interview to ET at the eighth Vibrant Gujarat Summit, he said the state was known for high economic activity. “Gujaratis are very adaptive and adjusting. Also, many traders and businessmen have close ties with the developed world.

Adjusting to cashless transactions is not a big issue for them,” he said. Rupani claimed that Gujarat had only benefitted from the note recall drive. “Everyone wants corruption and black money to be eliminated from our economy.

Gujaratis stand by our Prime Minister. There is no question of any anger,” the CM said.

Rupani said the implementation rate of the MoUs signed at the Summit was 77-80%. “That is a good rate. These are investment intentions.

We have a very strong monitoring mechanism in place. I am very happy that Maruti plant is coming up very fast,” the chief minister said on Thursday. The state government had identified 231 projects across various sectors to aid investors, he said.

“Top corporates in the aerospace sector have shown good enthusiasm. I am also expecting big investment in defence production,” the chief minister added.

“The focus of the state government is to train 30,000 youths for the jobs that are expected to come up,” the chief minister said.

Over the last few months, Gujarat has witnessed several agitations by youth leaders such as Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thakore, all centred around jobs and unemployment.

Rupani said Gujarat had topped the charts in giving jobs through the employment exchanges for the last 13 years and had the least unemployment rate. “All our efforts are geared towards providing employment to the youth.

We want to develop an environment where Gujarat’s youths become employment-givers rather than seekers,” Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said. Rupani said the focus of his government was on policy-driven initiatives.

With the latest health policy the government sought to promote brownfield and greenfield investments in medical education and increase access to super-specialty health services in rural and interior areas of the state, he said.

The new Aerospace and Defence Policy 2016, announced recently, was aimed at catapulting Gujarat into an aerospace and defence hub, Vijay Rupani said.

“We want to keep the area of discretionary powers as minimum as possible. Gujarat has also provided exemption from stamp duty for share-broking offices in both the SEZ and non-SEZ areas of GIFT City’s International Financial Services Centre. It shows the government is sensitive to the needs of a growing industry under Make in India,” Rupani added.

On state elections in the later part of the year, the chief minister said: “There is no challenge for BJP here. We are walking on the path charted by our leader and Prime Minister Narendrabhai.”

The chief minister also claimed that, for the first time, Vibrant Gujarat Summit saw coming together of seven Nobel laureates on one single platform.