CIDCO's proposal to allot the plot to Videocon has triggered a political controversy in the state. Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has alleged that the plot, valued at Rs
3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion), is being sold to Videocon for a mere Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion). He has also threatened to resign from the state Cabinet if the deal is not reversed.
Videocon plans to set up a liquid crystal display (LCD) project on the Navi Mumbai plot in partnership with IT giant IBM. The project is estimated at an investment of Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) and is likely to create 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.
When contacted, Dhoot said the land was earmarked as an industrial plot in the Navi Mumbai development plan and added that he was ready to convince anyone that the plot would not fetch more than Rs 950 crore.
He also hinted that he was ready to shift the project to some other state if the controversy did not subside. "I have offers from West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In fact, after the controversy broke out, some senior ministers from West Bengal called and asked me to come to Kolkata and promised to give me land right in the heart of Kolkata," said Dhoot.
"However, I am a Maharashtrian and I have emotional bonding with this land. I will make all possible efforts to persuade those who are against the project," he added. Adding that such a project cannot come up in the interior parts of the state, Dhoot said it requires world-class infrastructure, a highly qualified manpower and the vicinity of an airport to facilitate imports. It is unfortunate that some of the ministers were trying to settle political scores by using my project, he added.