Incentives only for industries with 70% staff from Madhya Pradesh: Kamal Nath

Kamal Nath, who sworn in as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on December 17, said incentives would be offered to only to those industries which hire 70 percent of their staff from within the state.

"Our schemes of providing incentives of investment will only be imposed after 70 percent people from MP get employment. People from states like Bihar and UP (Uttar Pradesh) come here and local people do not get jobs. I have signed the file for this,” Nath said at his first press conference as the chief minister.

The Congress had raised the issue of agrarian distress and employment in elections campaigns.

Congress defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the three ‘Hindi heartland’ states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — in the election results declared earlier this month.

After taking charge as the chief minister, Nath cleared a proposal for waiving farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh, fulfilling a promise made by the Congress ahead of the assembly polls. It is widely believed the farm loan waiver promise helped the Congress win the election where it was out of power for 15 years.

"After taking oath, I have cleared the first file related to writing off loans up to Rs 2 lakh," said Kamal Nath in his first address to reporters at the state secretariat as new CM.

Asked about arrangements of funds for farm loan-waiver and other schemes, Nath said, "New resources would be developed to arrange funds. The BJP has admitted the truth that they have left the state's treasury in a bad shape."

Nath further announced setting up of four garment parks in the state, in a bid to create job opportunities.

"This (new garment parks) would increase opportunities for youths besides creating auxiliary jobs in hotels and packaging. There is a need to increase economic activities in Madhya Pradesh," Nath said.

 (With PTI inputs)