The Trinamool Congress Government of Bengal is going to declare its industry policy after 27 months of coming to power by uprooting a 34-year Marxist rule.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who on Wednesday held a meeting of the core committee on industry — an elite group of Ministers, bureaucrats and industrialists created by her two years ago — told the business captains that the Government would come out with its new industry policy by August 31. Reportedly enthused by the overwhelming response she got from the industry captains in her recent meet-the-industry session in Mumbai, the Chief Minister has asked the various Government departments to hasten the process of finalising the policy draft.
Banerjee who had on an earlier occasion said that she was a “person with positive thinking” and “I do not like someone saying no before trying”, however, told the meeting that her Government would stick to its land policy of no forcible acquisition.
“The Chief Minister reiterated her strong resolve to attract industries and she promised early decision-making,” Industrialist Sanjeev Goenka said, adding the she had given a tentative date of August 31 for coming out with the new industry policy. “I think she has been able to make her point to the content of the investors and the industry goes out happy after this meeting,” Goenka said.
Pepped up after the response she got from top industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai, Banerjee is known to have given extra attention to creating an investment-friendly atmosphere in the State. However like in Mumbai where she had to face a barrage of questions on the availability of land — thanks to her cramped land policy of no-forced acquisition — the land issue continued to needle the Chief Minister on Wednesday too, even as she failed address the concerns of the prospective investors.
“No one questions the Chief Minister’s sincerity to draw investment but a cramped policy should not come in the way of assurances,” said another industrialist and a CII member.However another industrialist in petro-chem sector said “one is sure that Ms Banerjee will come out with an august industry policy.”
Though the Chief Minister refused to dilute the Government’s “no-acquisition policy” that brought her to power (against backdrop of the land movement in Singur and Nandigram) she assured the meeting that land would not be a problem.
Curiously a senior Infosys executive had a couple of days ago told a CII meeting in Kolkata that the Government would require a clear cut land policy for investments to come in the State. A set of investors including Infosys, Wipro, Videocon, ABJ had either fled the State or withheld their bigger plans on account of the Government’s land policy as the falling law and order situation in the State that included rampant extortions.
However State Industry Minister Partho Chatterjee on Wednesday cleared 100 acres of land for Anil Ambani’s Reliance group which would set up a Rs 600 crore cement factory at Raghunathpur in Purulia district.The factory would begin production three years from now with a capacity of 3 million tonnes per year and employ 1000 people. The Raghunathpur land was allotted from the Government land bank, the Minister said. This was the first Rs 100 crore-plus investment after the new Government came to power he said.
Meanwhile State Education Minister Bratya Basu said his Department would create about a lakh job in the education sector by the end of this year. Already the Department was in the process of providing 35,000 jobs at primary teacher level. This apart, 36,000 teachers would be appointed at the secondary level.