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KOLKATA, Nov. 7

THE West Bengal Government has set an ambitious target. By the end of the current financial year, it wants to complete the disinvestment and winding up programme of the State public sector units.

This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at the 115th annual general meeting. According to him, a technical committee has been set up. At present, there 69 State public sector units, of which 56 are in the manufacturing sector.

According to Mr Bhattacharjee, these units are grouped under three heads namely, red, yellow and green. The units under the red category are marked for total liquidation but after taking care of the workers' interests.

The second category, yellow, has the maximum number of units. For these companies, the Government will soon seek private participation. "The Government is willing to form joint ventures for these companies. A little support from the private players would help these units to turn around,'' he said.

In the green category, there are two or three companies. These companies, according to the Chief Minister, are financially strong. The Government will continue to run these companies. He, however, explained that his Government's disinvestment plans are quite different from what is being pursued by the Union Government.

"Most of the State public sector units were nationalised after it became sick in the hands of the private players. We committed the mistake of nationalising these units,'' he added.

The Chief Minister spoke in detail about the developments made by his Government in attracting investments in sectors like IT, IT enabled services, downstream of Haldia Petrochemicals, food processing, horticulture and floriculture.

In this context he said that Pepsi had shown keen interest in processing coconuts in the State. "After extensive research in different States, they have found the coconuts of West Bengal as the best in quality. Pepsi has plans to sell processed coconut water to foreign airlines,'' he said.

The State's iron and steel sector has witnessed major investments and it ranged from mini steel plants, ferro alloy steel plants to steel castings and sponge iron units.

"Between January and August 2002, 13 units with a total project cost of Rs 232 crore were commissioned in the State and another 77 steel projects involving an investment of almost Rs 2000 crore are under different stages of implementation,'' he said.

Mr Niranjan Saha, President of the Chamber, urged the Chief Minister to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling Act and the Essential Commodities Act. He felt that these Acts have lost relevance but businessmen are harassed by authorities.

Regarding the small-scale sector, Mr Saha felt that players in this category need marketing support. He requested the Chief Minister to revamp West Bengal Small Industries Corporation and District Industries Centres.

"Scheme for ancillarisation with big units can also help this sector. There are 12 industrial growth centres in the State and most of them are plagued by poor infrastructural and maintenance problems. The State Government should pay more attention to these growth centres so that they can serve their purpose fruitfully,'' Mr Saha said.

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