Maharashtra House in Stuttgart yet to open 1.5 years after it was 'inaugurated'

MUMBAI: More than 1.5 years after it was inaugurated with fanfare, 'Maharashtra House in Stuttgart, Germany, is yet to start operations. Inaugurated as a trade facilitation and liai son office in Aug 2024 by then school education minister De epak Kesarkar, it has been shut from day one followingdi rections from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that the office should not be opera-tionalised and all its procee dings must be suspended till further orders. Kesarkar had travelled to Stuttgart withade legation of officials for the in-auguration.

"The proposal for approval to operate Maharashtra House as a liaison office is submitted to the Centre and is currently under consideration. As perthe instructions of MEA, the office hasn't been operationa lised and all its proceedings are suspended till further or ders. Maharashtra govt has not yet operationalised Maha rashtra House and has not ta ken possession," school educa tion minister Dada Bhuse said in a reply to SP MLA Rais Sha ikh's calling attention motion.

Kesarkar said he had "ma de the announcement of the opening of Maharashtra Hou se" and it can only be started after MEA approval.

Bhuse saidan MoU wassig ned in Feb 2024 to provide skil led manpower to the German state of Baden-Württemberg. "In order to ensure mutual co ordination between Maha rashtra and Baden-Württem berg and to have a fixed point of contact, Baden-Württem berg provided a free liaison of fice in Stuttgart. It has been named Maharashtra House. It is operated by a company called CAHUB GmbH. Space has been provided free of charge. Man power and other administrati-ve/office expenses will be bor ne by C4HUB GmbH. There will be no financial burden on the Maharashtra govt," Bhuse said in his reply.

C4HUB GmbH's Bastian Mueller told TOI in a written response that even though in auguration of Maharashtra House was planned, it has be en abandoned because of mis sing approvals. "Approval of CAHUB by Baden-Württem berg is not completed yet. This was a precondition of the MEA to decide about the setup of the Maharashtra House. As MEA approval had not been granted, no office space was le ased and no personnel were hi red. Entire process stopped without inauguration and execution. No financial transac tions have been made by Ma harashtra or Baden-Württem berg to C4HUB at all. C4HUB GmbH does not operate or ma-nage a governmental contact office on behalf of Maharash-tra or Baden-Württemberg, Mueller said. The Baden-Württemberg govt did not re spond to queries from TOL Ranjit Deol, principal secreta ry school education, too did not respond to TOI's queries.

"The inauguration was planned and announced ex pecting the MEA permit will arrive in time. On the day of the event, we got to know that the permission by MEA is still pending. So the event was re purposed to an announcement of a representation office in stead. C4HUB is still willing to offer their services, because the idea is good and has a big potential," Mueller said.