Vibrant Gujarat Summit: No data about jobs for locals, says Gujarat government

The state government said on Tuesday that it does not have separate information about the number of jobs created for locals due to fructification of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed during Vibrant Gujarat Summits over the years.

This was stated in written replies by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in the House in response to questions by various MLAs regarding jobs created for locals by companies that had signed MoUs at the Summit in 2013 and 2015.

"In the MoUs/investment intentions, investors give details about proposed employment generation. The information regarding job creation for locals is not categorised separately," Rupani, who also holds the industries portfolio, said.

In another written reply, Rupani said that 2.95 lakh jobs were created by MoUs signed at the 2017 Summit.

"In MoUs signed at Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2017, the proposed employment generation was 42.97 lakh. 2.95 lakh jobs were created by 14,816 MoUs that went into production," he said.

Half of VGS 2011 MoUs dropped

Close to half of the 8,380 MoUs signed at the 2011 VGS have been dropped, the state government admitted in the assembly on Thursday. CM Rupani said in a written reply that 4,233 projects had gone into production as of December 2018, while 4,053 projects were dropped. It said that Rs 2.49 lakh crore investment had taken place in 4,233 projects as against proposed Rs 20.83 lakh crore.

At the 2015 Summit, 21,304 MoUs were signed, of which 15,034 MoUs had gone into production, and investment of Rs 2.86 lakh crore had taken place.

Similarly, investment of Rs 2.89 lakh crore had taken place in 14,776 MoUs signed in 2017.

Over Rs 160 cr for two Summits

The expenditure incurred for hosting the VGS is on the rise, figures tabled by the government show. Rs 79.73 crore were spent for organising the VGS 2015, whereas Rs 81.06 crore had been spent for the 2017 Summit as of March 2018.

Rs 4.99 cr spent on babus' travels

Almost Rs 5 crore were spent on the foreign travels of 12 IAS officers for promotion of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2019. The senior bureaucrats officers had visited 27 countries in total in September and October for the overseas road shows. The government said that the expenditure details were yet to be finalised.