Industry says term plagued by corruption and delays.
The mandate of parivartan (change) that brought Mamata Banerjee to the chief minister’s office in West Bengal appears to have taken a beating. Even as Banerjee completes six months at the helm of the state administration, criticism is flying thick and fast in the entrepreneurial circles of Kolkata.
While unwilling to openly admit it, businessmen in the state appeared rueful of the change and disillusioned with Banerjee’s style of administration. The new government, they say, is plagued by issues of inexperience, delays and corruption.
For a city based builder, growing instances of corruption has meant an erosion of faith he put in Mamata Banerjee and the parivartan she promised.
“It is troubling that the bribery seems to have become part of the project approval discussions. It seems to have become expected and accepted. Also, earlier, where the work would be done with token cash transactions, the asking rates have seen a significant increase,” he said on condition of anonymity.
The picture now, he says, is a stark contrast of the promise of utopia Banerjee had painted. The calculations run thus: For approval on a 15,000 sqft project, which is expected to sell for Rs 75 crore, the asking rate is a clear Rs 50 lakh. “This is a manifold rise in what one would have to spend for approvals earlier”, the builder said.
The problem, says another businessman, is to do with the fact that the party is not regimented and that there an absence of discipline. “Mamata is trying to do a whole lot of things. But this is not how governance works. There needs to be delegation of authority. Also there is no control over the lower rungs, who are trying to milk the opportunity for all they can,” he said. Another problem, says M K Jalan, chairman of the Rs 1,100 crore Kolkata-based Keventer Group, is the fact that the government seems to be floundering with a lack of intent. “Discussions happen, but these seem to have become increasingly one sided, where the industry is expected to present its views, but there is no response or action from the government, which has become incommunicado. Whether this is attributable to lack of intent, or ability one does not know,” Jalan said.
Some however chose to take a more optimistic view, while saying that it is too soon to pass a judgment on Banerjee’s report card yet. “I think six months is too short a time for us to call her a failure. I would give her more time to prove her points. But yes, despite her best efforts, it is a fact that the state has seen zero investments in the past six months, possibly due to her policies on land,” said Sandipan Chakraborty, president, Bengal Chamber of Commerce. According to Chakraborty, part of Banerjee’s problems emanate from the fact that her team does not have enough leaders to execute change. “It is necessary for successful governance that there is effective delegation of authority. This appears to be missing in Banerjee’s administration,” he explained.