Diamond Trade's Shift From Mumbai To Gujarat Will Cost Jobs: Sharad Pawar

Day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Surat Diamond Bourse, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said that earlier diamond trade used to take place in the Bandra Kurla Complex of Mumbai, from where it has been shifted to Gujarat.

"Those who are in power today do not have the power to think about the country. The Prime Minister will inaugurate the diamond business in Surat. Earlier, diamond trade used to take place in the Bandra Kurla Complex of Mumbai; now it has been shifted from here to Gujarat," Sharad Pawar said while speaking at his party's Swabhiman Sabha at Maharashtra's Raigad on Saturday.

The NCP chief claimed that since the diamond trade has shifted to Surat, lakhs of people have lost their jobs.

"Lakhs of people got employment due to this market. Due to the diamond trade going to Surat, the local people will lose their jobs," Sharad Pawar said.

The NCP chief also claimed that owing to the NAINA project (Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area), employment resources of farmers are being "snatched."

"Due to this, along with farming, the employment resources of the farmers are also being snatched away," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Surat Diamond Bourse in Gujarat on Sunday. As per the official sources, it will be the world's largest and most modern centre for international diamond and jewellery businesses.

It will be a global centre for trading both rough and polished diamonds as well as jewellery. The bourse will comprise a state-of-the-art 'Customs Clearance House' for Import - Export, a jewellery mall for retail jewellery businesses, a facility for international banking and safe vaults.

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