The Hindu Business Line : Bengal chambers express concern over bandh call

All chambers of commerce and industry in Kolkata, in a joint statement issued here on Tuesday, have expressed "grave concern against the politicisation of industrial investment in West Bengal in the wake of mounting developments around the emergence of only one major manufacturing project in the State in the recent past."

The chambers today reacted strongly to the two-day bandh call (on December 21 and 22) by the Trinamool Congress Chief, Ms Mamata Banerjee, in protest against the murder of a young female activist of the Singur Krishi Jami Rakhsha Committee in Singur on Monday.

The body was burnt and dumped in a pit on the very land where Tatas Motors' small car project is expected to come up.

According to the statement, even in the darkest days of West Bengal's economic and commercial history, such a spate of bandhs/strikes (three within a fortnight) was not experienced. It is pointed out, "ironically, such steps can cruelly wipe out the positive image creation undertaken to coincide with the State's industrial regeneration".

The chamber presidents are of the view that "we are turning the clock back and fuelling negative perceptions that will unarguably slow down the current growth momentum and choke immediate and future investment prospects of the State.

Sadly, these eventualities are in stark contrast to the much acclaimed economic miracle happening in rest of India, taking the country into the realm of an economic super power".

Reiterating that "for West Bengal, the time is now and the future is here to make it happen", the chambers have urged the citizenry of Bengal to deal with December 21 and 22 as days "when we can demonstrate our changing work culture, our commitment to tasks and our collective passion for continuing to take West Bengal forward on the path to sustainable economic and social prosperity".

The joint statement has been issued by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of Indian Industry (ER), the Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants Chamber of Commerce and the Oriental Chamber of Commerce.

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