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Kolkata, Oct 5 “Though one battle has been lost, the war (for industrialisation) has not yet gone the same way,” Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, said here on Sunday, two days after Mr Ratan Tata announced the pull-out of Nano factory from West Bengal.

Addressing a programme organised by Orion Techcity for the foundation stone laying of its IT SEZ in neighbouring Rajarhat, Mr Bhattacharjee said, “Mr Ratan Tata has assured us that they are not leaving us forever.” He also added that Mr Tata had maintained that all future projects of Tata would be executed according to plan.

However, the pull-out has left people wondering, “what is going on in West Bengal and why the Opposition is failing to understand the importance of industrialisation,” he observed.

“We need industrialisation in the State, particularly for the young generation as we cannot solely depend on agriculture. But unfortunately, we are facing a very irresponsible Opposition here,” the Chief Minister said, adding, “We, however, hope to raise our head high again as the majority of the people in the state are of the right-thinking type.”

Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs, described agitations focussing the agriculture-industrialisation divide as an attempt to reverse the gear of development.

This was because “industries and roads cannot be built on air.”

In the case of SEZs, he said, land acquisition guidelines were clearly laid down by the Centre with maximum priority given to fallow land. The second priority was given to one-crop land and only 10 per cent was allowed for two-crop land in case of the “utmost necessity”.

Mr Debesh Das, West Bengal IT Minister, said the dedicated 25-acre Japan Village within the IT SEZ would help attract Japanese investors to the State.

Mr Hideaki Domichi, Japanese Ambassador, told reporters on the sidelines of the stone laying ceremony, “the West Bengal Government has assured us of all cooperation and, therefore, we believe all our proposed investments here are well protected.”

The proposed IT SEZ on 155 acres in Rajarhat would have 18 million sq ft of commercial space and is expected to employ 1.8 lakh professionals while providing indirect employment to as many people, Mr Murari Jalan, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, said.

The project would attract investment of $1.2 billion, phased over 10 years, he said, adding that the first phase of the SEZ was expected to be completed by 2011.

The company also has plans to develop a similar SEZ on 500 acres in North Bengal near Bagdogra, he said.

More Stories on : Politics | New Projects | Infrastructure | Tata Motors Ltd

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