Centre yet to clear Sahara's Sunderbans project

The union environment ministry is yet to clear the mega eco-tourism project of Sahara India in West Bengal's Sunderbans area, but company chief Subroto Roy today expressed confidence that the project would be completed by next year.

"Yes, there is some problem with the Sunderbans project. It pertains to the clearance from the Centre which have not yet received. But, I am confident that we will be able to complete it by 2005," Roy told reporters here after a meeting with West Bengal chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee.

He said Sahara India was in the process of building 207 townships in the country, including eight in West Bengal, to provide high-end residential facilities at affordable prices.

Maintaining that the prices of flats there would range from from Rs 8-9 lakh, Roy said each township in West Bengal would also provide employment to at least 3,000 people.

Roy said his meeting with the chief minister was simply a 'courtesy call'.

Roy added that he had invited chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee for a private screening of Netaji: The Last Hero,' a film on Subhash Chandra Bose.

The film has been made by noted director Shyam Benegal and has been produced by Sahara.

To a question, Roy said that he was determined to have a Bengali channel of Sahara Television. He, however, did not spell out any date by which it would be operational.