FDI of not even one rupee received in 2 yrs in Haryana: Congress

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala Sunday alleged that foreign direct investment (FDI) in Haryana has been completely eroded due to the "poor functioning" of the present M L Khattar-led BJP government.

"Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet colleagues had wasted crores of rupees of hard-earned money of the people on a number of foreign tours one after another. At the same time, not a single FDI has been invested in the state during the last two years," Surjewala, MLA from Kaithal, alleged in a statement here.

In the statement, the Congress leader referred to the information provided by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) in response to an RTI query filed by a Gurugram-based activist.

Surjewala, a former Haryana industries minister, said during the first two years of the second term of the Congress government, i.e., 2009 to 2011, the state received Rs 1,086 crore as FDI, which more than doubled to Rs 2,495 crore in next two years, i.e., from 2012 to 2014.

"After the formation of Haryana's Khattar government, investment to the tune of merely Rs 92 crore came to the state between 2015 and 2016, and this figure dropped to Rs 41 crore between 2016 and 2017. Between 2017 and 2018, FDI of not even one rupee was received, which clearly shows the inexperience and ill-functioning of the Khattar government," he alleged.

Surjewala said the Khattar government had claimed to implement several schemes to promote foreign capital investment in the state, "but now the (Nov 13) reply of RTI has clearly revealed that how the chief minister, ministers, other representatives and senior officials had wasted crores of rupees in the name of the Happening Haryana Investment Summit".

"The previous Congress government had made the state number one in terms of all round development and investment but now the BJP government has taken the state to zero figure in development during its four-and-a-half years' regime, causing the youth of the state to suffer from unemployment," he alleged.

Surjewala said for inviting investment, the state required peace, mutual brotherhood and a good law and order situation, which the Khattar government has "failed to provide".

While questioning the chief minister, Surjewala said apart from touring the US, Canada, Israel, UK, Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, Khattar should apprise the people of how much investment his foreign visits and his events like Happening Haryana, overseas conferences and roadshows have brought.

"New investment claims worth Rs 6 lakh crore have proved to be completely hollow and baseless," he said, adding, "the foreign visits and conferences of the chief minister and other ministers need public scrutiny, so that frauds of crores of rupees could be exposed."

"The false and hollow claims of the Ease of Doing business has also been exposed with this RTI reply," Surjewala further added.

(With inputs from agencies.)