The spectre of industries, jobs and economic opportunities moving out or away from Maharashtra to other States reared its ahead again on Saturday (July 26, 2025) as a video of Deputy Chief Minister in conversation with a sarpanch from a Pune suburb referenced the issue.
Conducting a 6 a.m. surprise visit the Hinjewadi area of the city to review ongoing efforts to tackle civic infrastructure issues that have worsened during the monsoon, Mr. Pawar was heard confronting Hinjewadi sarpanch Ganesh Jambhulkar, “We are ruined. The entire Hinjewadi IT Park is moving out. It’s going out of my Pune, out of Maharashtra, to Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Don’t you care at all?”
The Deputy CM and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader was referring to the condition of the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park in Hinjewadi, spread over 2,800 acres and developed by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation in the mid-1990s, which houses over 800 IT and business entities including majors such as Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, and Tech Mahindra. The visit came in response to severe waterlogging and traffic chaos during the first spell of monsoon, which had triggered public complaints.
Sapkal criticism
Following the video going viral, the Congress accused the Mahayuti government of failing to maintain Maharashtra’s industrial dominance, citing crumbling infrastructure, corruption and lawlessness. “The IT industry that once flourished in Hinjewadi during Congress rule is now migrating to Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar himself has admitted this,” said Harshvardhan Sapkal, president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
