Congress seeks white paper on business events organised by Gujarat government

Opposition Congress on Monday demanded a white paper from ruling BJP government on the gains accrued to the state from organising national and international seminars while indicating that such events have become a "breeding ground" for corruption.

"The state government should come out with a white paper on the benefits accrued to the state from organising national and international conferences," Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.

He said the white paper should also give an account of the funds spent by the state government or by industry in holding such national and international conferences.

The state government will be organising a series of pre-summit conferences in run-up to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January 2015, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The concept of summit was conceived by Modi when he was the chief minister of the state.

"The state government has been organising Vibrant Gujarat Summits since 2003 every two years. These summits have not yielded any great results as the they have failed to attract more investment in the state, which would have come in the routine course," Doshi said.

"The government intends to spend crores of rupees before the 7th edition of the summit by way of organising road shows, national and international conferences and exhibitions," Doshi said, adding that though the state government spends a lot of money for such events, it is also raising funds from the industry to finance such events.

"We have a feeling that such events are a breeding ground of corruption," Doshi said.