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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday criticised a section of the media for maligning the image of the State.
According to the Chief Minister, deliberate attempts are being made by a section of the media to spread negative news. She maintained that it was unfair on the part of the media to compare Bengal Leads – the annual investor meet organised by the State – with Vibrant Gujarat – a similar initiative by the Narendra Modi-led Government.
“There is a section of the media who are happy to portray us in negative light. But they will overlook the development work done by the Government. It is also not fair to compare industrial development of Gujarat with Bengal,” Banerjee said.
She was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the second edition of Bengal Leads here in Haldia, located nearly 150 km from Kolkata.
According to her, West Bengal was witnessing investment in 12-odd rail units which are likely to be operational by 2013, while PSU major SAIL has embarked on an expansion and modernisation drive at its Durgapur unit.
Similarly, NTPC too will set up units – one each in Raghunathpur, Katwa and Alipurduar; other companies such as ITC and CESC have committed to investments in the State.
Vibrant Gujarat
Dishing out statistics, Banerjee maintained that Gujarat does not have a high debt burden like West Bengal. Nor is it as densely populated as Bengal.
Absence of infrastructure in Bengal – such as private ports too was one of the key issues hampering industrial development in the State.
“If you consider the geographical location of Gujarat, you will see that there are over 17 ports in the State. Here, it’s just two and both of them are under the Centre,” Banerjee said.
According to the Chief Minister, both the Kolkata and Haldia ports are suffering because of a decrease in draft and the Centre was not keen to carry out dredging here.
Regional Politics
She also blamed regional politics and poor financial conditions as major hindrances here. Claiming that there are no vested interests at work in Gujarat, Banerjee said: “Politics is restricted during the elections and not on development issues.”
Pointing to the poor fiscal condition of the State, Banerjee reiterated that West Bengal has a debt burden of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore and a major chunk of its revenues are spent in repaying interest.
According to her, demands (to the Centre) for seeking a three year moratorium or restructuring of the debt have fallen on deaf ears.
“We, along with some of the industry captains from Bengal, will soon meet the Prime Minister seeking a moratorium. Even if I want to, I cannot give special incentives to industry because of Bengal’s poor financial conditions,” Banerjee said.
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