Mamata woos industry leaders at investment meet. Then a quick swipe at Centre
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee took a dig at the Centre, urging governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to talk to central authorities to ensure that industrialists are “not disturbed by some agencies”.
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wooed investors at a big-ticket business summit in state capital Kolkata on Wednesday, telling them that the state, which lost 75 lakh man-days due to industrial action when the previous Left Front government was in power, has not lost a single day after she came to power.
The comparison was designed to underline that the Bengal had turned a new leaf and had a strategy in place to encourage industry to set up base in Bengal. The chief minister also outlined eight pillars of development that include a focus on infrastructure, education, social security, skill development and ease-of-doing-business.
She also announced that her government will set up a ₹72,000-crore industrial zone in the densely forested and backward ‘Junglemahal’ area along the eastern freight corridor being built by the Centre, linking north India with West Bengal’s ports. Banerjee, who was speaking at the inauguration of the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit, a flagship event of her government, underlined that Bengal was the first state to hold a business summit in-person after the Covid pandemic struck.
But as she wrapped up her speech that pitched Bengal as the gateway to not just eastern and northeastern India but also south-east Asia, Banerjee took a swipe at the Centre, and governor Jagdeep Dhankhar who had minutes earlier advised her to “distance development from partisan stance”.
“Through the governor, I would like to say a word on behalf of the industrialists. They can’t open their mouth. We want all the help from the Union government. Please raise the issue at the governor’s conference. Please see that industrialists should not be disturbed through some agencies,” Banerjee said, a remark that was seen to refer to federal investigating agencies, income tax and the enforcement directorate, probing some private firms that operate in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called this remark unfortunate, adding that the chief minister should focus on getting the law and order situation under control.
“It is very unfortunate that the chief minister chose this platform to make such remarks. The Centre is always ready to help the states. Even as the state president of the BJP, the main opposition party, I want to assure the chief minister that she will get all our cooperation. But the chief minister first needs to improve the law-and-order situation in the state. Unless that improves no industrialists would come to West Bengal,” said Sukanta Majumdar, BJP state president.
During the day, the Adani Group committed to invest ₹10,000 crore in the state over the next decade, group chief Gautam Adani said at the summit, in his first appearance at the event. Adani is also a bidder for the Tajpur deep sea port but the state is yet to make an announcement.
JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal announced that they will develop a 900 MW pumped storage hydel power project in West Bengal.
The summit could not be held for two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government said at least 42 countries including Australia, the UK, the USA, Japan, Korea, Italy and Germany were participating in the summit.
(With PTI inputs)