C K Birla mentioned that the money received from selling the denotified Uttarpara land of Hindustan Motors (HM) went into reviving the ailing HM unit (“Birla confirms Bengal govt query on HM land sale,” August 5). HM should, thus, have no problem in showing which new equipment and production facilities it has installed at Uttarpara after getting the funds. Such a large chunk of prime contiguous land near Kolkata going for Rs 90 lakh per acre raises questions. Recently, two other business houses involved in two iconic Kolkata companies have also been in the news for the wrong reasons. The Ruias of Dunlop have not done anything for the parent factory in Sahagunj. And quite correctly, the new state government is questioning them. Also, the Goenkas of the CESC, even after being in charge for two decades, have failed to boost the corporation’s power generation capacity significantly for the city. Despite having a concentrated metropolitan area and a much higher per retail consumer power offtake – which should reduce its distribution cost – CESC power tariff is more than that of West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB). The money taken from Kolkata’s consumers has been used to invest in new businesses and even new and much bigger power plants in other Indian states. These investments might benefit the controlling shareholders of CESC, but certainly not its millions of consumers. Such actions give the private sector a bad name.
Bhaskar Sen, Kolkata
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