Realizing that the land policy of the Mamata Banerjee government has failed to motivate the industry to come out with fresh proposals of investment in the state, the industry minister Partha Chatterjee has tried to dispel some of the misgivings. In a meeting with the investors in Durgapur on Tuesday the industry minister dealt with the subject at length and tried to defend the state government’s land policy. He contended that the land was not the issue here. Without naming the Singur case, he tried to argue that there was only one instance where the land issue became the bone of contention. Though in recent years, Nandigram and Katwa had also experienced similar problem.
After the Mamata Banerjee government’s land policy stressed the point that the government won’t come forward to acquire land for the sake of industry, and the industry would have to buy land from the market, there has been very negative response from the investors in terms of bringing in fresh proposals to set up industry in the state. In a recent meeting with the chief minister, the US ambassador Burleigh explained to her in no uncertain terms that the new land policy would not encourage investors to come when she enquired about the scope of investment by US companies in Bengal.
But the industry minister’s argument was pegged at a different level. According to him, of the total 4710 Industrial Estimate Memorandums submitted during the last regime, only 1310 units came up. He reminded that land was not the issue there but admitted that while the investors showed their keenness to set up industries in the state, lack of proper infrastructure remained a stumbling block from which the state has been suffering.
His own experience was no better. Recently the industry minister tried to rope in some of the best known companies for his proposed IT hubs in Durgapur, Asansol and Barjora. The companies are Infosys, Cognizant, Capgemini, Deloitte and Wipro. “But they have set certain conditions which are quite unpalatable,” commented Chatterjee. Later he explained that they were demanding quality hotels, hospitals, schools, shopping malls and other amenities in those areas before they could take a call.
“In Durgapur alone we need a chain of good hotels, hospitals, schools and lots of other amenities. The government is trying to address this problem but the private industries must also come forward to take advantage of this opportunity,” feels Chatterjee.
He pointed out that a number of industries were having surplus land in their possession which was lying unused. Stressing the point that the land taken for the expressed purpose of setting up of new industries could not be diverted to real estate business, he reminded that the industry could not keep the surplus land with them indefinitely. At the same breath he explained that his party came to power with a mandate given by the poor peasants, and they would not do anything to subvert the mandate.
