Some decisions of Govt have left investors,India Inc disturbed,says Pawar

“Our first term,UPA 1,was very good and we are extremely happy that people also accepted that and it showed in the elections. Then our beginning was also good,but recently,certain things have happened and the situation is a little disturbing,” Pawar told Shekhar Gupta,Editor-in-Chief of

The Indian Express,in an interview for NDTV’s Walk The Talk programme.

“There are certain poor decisions… there are certain approaches that some of the ministries have taken,and the general impression is a little disturbing. One of the most important things that UPA 1 had created was a confidence in the area of investment and investors. I think as on today,because of certain actions,might be (due to) some misunderstanding,I think there is a scope to correct the approach,” he said in Mumbai.

Pawar’s public comments are the first by a senior member of the Union government to agree with fears expressed by captains of industry such as Tata and Parekh that the environment of negativity and a slew of scandals that have blighted the mood in the country would hurt the India growth story and scare investors.

Tata and Parekh had also told Gupta in interviews over the last month that the UPA government needed to intervene urgently and demonstrate that it was in control and display some much-needed cohesion in the face of the spectrum scandal,conflicts between industry and the environment ministry and the leakage of lobbyist Niira Radia’s phone conversation tapes.

Pawar said that he had seen Parekh’s interview and had also interacted with the corporate sector and observed that things were “definitely disturbing” for them. But he added that all was not lost.

“I am happy about one thing,I discussed (this) with the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister is very concerned about this and he honestly feels that we have to change the atmosphere and the Finance Minister is also absolutely clear and I think he himself will take the initiative,” Pawar said.

Blaming what he called were “some NGOs” and certain sections of the media for launching and exaggerating the opposition to development projects,Pawar said that the protests and demonstrations succeeded in making the government “nervous” about going ahead with projects.

Pawar and his family have been linked to the controversial Lavasa hill city project that is coming up near Pune and has been shown the red flag by the Union Environment Ministry following allegations that it violated ecological laws years after construction was launched. Lavasa has challenged the government move in the Bombay High Court and Pawar has also come out in open support of what he today called “one of the best projects coming up in the country”.

He said Hindustan Construction Corporation,which is the main promoter and is executing the project,was doing an excellent job. But when anyone handles a project which is worth Rs 2,000 or Rs 3,000 crore or involves a few thousand hectares of land,“there will be possibility of some small mistakes here and there,one has to see how we can take corrective action”. He denied that his family had anything to do with the project. His son-in-law,Sadanand Sule,dealt in stocks and “acquires and sells shares practically every day” and had got into Lavasa also in the same way but had sold his stake years ago,Pawar said.

The UPA leader had a rare word of praise for BJP-ruled Gujarat. In Gujarat,he said the ruling and opposition parties had buried their political differences over the issue of development and such an atmosphere needed to be created across the country.

Referring to the controversy triggered by Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh over the killing of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare by Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists during the 26/11 attack on Mumbai,Pawar said that he believed his party’s Home Minister R R Patil who said there was no record in the state government of Singh and Karkare having spoken over the phone a few hours before Karkare was killed.

Singh has claimed that he had a phone conversation with Karkare who told him his life was under threat from Hindu extremist groups he had found to be allegedly behind the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast.

“He told me he has checked and nothing is available,” Pawar said referring to Patil. “The whole world knows who has killed Karkare. Prior to his tragic incident,I had a long chat with him here. He was a very competent and honest officer. I have not seen him interested in creating a political sensation. So what was the provocation or what was the intimation Digvijayji got,I don’t know. At least from what I know,I think it is away from reality.”