 "Mamata debunks 'political compulsions' for selective economic reform")
When the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government came to power, one of the first things that the state government did was to halt big township projects by amending the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955.
Under the Act, no entity is allowed to own more than 24 acres of land. The earlier Left Front government had exempted big township projects from the Act, by including it in the exempted category, section 14Y of the Act. But the TMC government retracted to the earlier Act, halting all big-ticket investments. But a sluggish growth in the real estate sector for the last three years has prompted the government to approve a township policy, under which townships have once again been included in the exempted category under section 14Y of the Land Reform.
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“Surely, the government is taking steps to attract investments. The new township policy of the government will boost real estate development in a big way,” said Rahul Saraf, managing director, Forum Projects. Around 22 township proposals have come in so far, entailing an investment in excess of Rs 72,000 crore. Most of the land is already in possession of real estate developers. Plus, 45 per cent of the public infrastructure created in the townships will be returned to the state government as “gift”.
Another testimonial to government’s intention to liberalise the highly conservative economic policy is the recent change introduced by it in the agricultural produce market committee (APMC) Act. Ironically, the Trinamool Congress government had in 2012 passed a resolution against the entry of both domestic and foreign capital in retail.
Last month, the government passed the West Bengal Agricultural Produce Marketing Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2014. After numerous failed attempts to bring changes in the APMC Act by the earlier Left Front government, this marks a historic change in the agriculture marketing laws of the state.
The Bill paves the way for private players to buy directly from farmers and allows them to operate wholesale yards for a fee. The state also intends to set up Krishak Bazaars, on the basis of public private partnership, which will allow farmers to sell their produce directly to retailers. Seen as more Left than Left Front, Banerjee has even invited request for proposals to transfer tea gardens under West Bengal Tea Development Corporation to private entities through a competitive bidding process. The corporation has five tea gardens, having a combined land bank of 1,866 hectares.
According to an industrialist, in a closed-door meeting with businessmen, the chief minister had apparently said she was toying with an alternative model to SEZ.
Both Infosys and Wipro (for its second campus) have 50 acres each in Rajarhat. They got the land during the tenure of the Left Front government at a discounted rate, but Banerjee’s strong opposition to SEZs have prevented the companies from building on the plots. At the summit, Banerjee had apologised to investors. “Don’t see past, past is gone...I am sorry for that. I apologise for that. Whatever happened is not good. Let’s think for today and tomorrow,” she had said. The chief minister later clarified the apology was on account of the financial indiscipline of the Left Front.
Industrialists, however, feel that the chief minister could do away with apologies, with some flexibility to some of the more significant restrictive policies.