The West Bengal government has invited Maruti Suzuki to set up a facility in the state, following the violence at its Manesar unit.
“I have written to Mr. Bhargava (R C Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India) to come to West Bengal. Our work culture is very good. We don’t have a violent industrial work environment like Manesar at least,” West Bengal commerce and industries minister, Partha Chatterjee, said. Chatterjee added that land would not be a problem for the project.
Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister, recently met Suzuki Motors Chairman, Osamu Suzuki, to pitch for investments, though the Gujarat government clarified that it was not looking to cash in on the Manesar violence.
Incidentally, Modi had provided home to Tata Motors’s small car project, Nano, when it decided to pull out of West Bengal, following an indefinite agitation led by Trinamool Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee, who is now the Chief Minister. Banerjee stuck to the demand that Tata Motors should return 400 acres to the unwilling land losers of Singur, which ultimately led to the pullout.
After she took charge at Writers’ Building, the West Bengal government has been trying to woo investors without much success. On Wednesday, however, Shapoor Mistry, Chairman of construction major, Shapoorji Pallonji to discuss investment proposals in information technology hubs, deep sea port and hydro electricity.
“We have already invested around Rs 1,000 crore in the state. Some of the areas of interest were discussed,” Mistry said, after meeting the Chief Minister.
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Over the past year, though the government claims that investment of more than Rs 1 lakh crore were under implementation, most of it was bagged during the Left Front regime.
Industry minister, Partha Chatterjee, explained later that there were issues with the company’s mass housing project, and it came up during the meeting. The project, spread over 150 acres at Rajarhat, involves an investment of Rs 1,500 crore.