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Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized an Exclusive Interaction with Dr.Shashi Panja, Hon’ble Minister of Industry and Commerce & Enterprises, Public Enterprises & IR, Women & Child Development & Social Welfare, GoWB today at Taj Bengal, Kolkata.
West Bengal Industrial Promotion Board has initiated measures for sorting out the issues of land, which is the basic requirement in the state. Dr. Shashi Panja, Hon’ble Minister at her address, said, “Everyone looks for land and we have brought in eight departments into the West Bengal Industrial Promotion Board to identify lands that can be converted for industrial use.’
Land leases of 99 years have been given an option of free holding and real estate and commercial projects that have already come up on the leasehold lands will actually benefit, Panja said.
She said the State Government as a matter of policy has given a lot of thrust to tourism, exploiting the hills of North Bengal, but tea tourism has got special attention with both promotions of tourism and tea going hand in hand. “We have taken New Chamta and Raidak gardens. The part of the gardens, which cannot be utilized for tea plantations, would be promoted for tourism purposes. Mayfair Hotel is coming up on the Chamta gardens but we have kept a few criteria for utilizing those lands, which would also be utilized for homestays and low-cost housing for tea garden workers, Smt. Panja said.
But the most important part was the identification of 8000 acres of non-agricultural land by the sides of the Amritsar- Dankuni freight corridor via Raghunathpur, where a host of industries could come up.
The Industrial Promotion Board has identified Jungle Sundari and Krama Nagari in Purulia, which would be divided into red, orange, and green zones for setting up industrial units. Purulia could be a place where iron and steel industries could thrive, but most importantly, West Bengal chief minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee has proposed for extension of the Amritsar- Dankuni up to Kalyani and develop a second railway corridor connecting North Bengal.
In the meeting between Ms. Banerjee and Shri Naveen Patnaik on the issue of giving iron ore to West Bengal steel units., Smt. Panja said, the Odisha CM has agreed in principle but it will take time to be made available in West Bengal.
But on the reconstruction of the public sector undertakings, Smt. Panja said the board was eying on the lands of the closed units and would put them to resumption. She spoke about the Dhakeswari Cotton Mills near Asansol, having 193 acres of land. At Mangalpur near Durgapur, a large parcel of land has been identified, and in Belur, where once Nesco existed, 100 acres of land have been identified for resumption. DPL’s 360 acres have also been advertised for resumption.
MCCI President Shri Namit Bajoria, in his welcome address, said that there has been a lot of good news coming for West Bengal on the industrial front and there were milestone developments for the prospects of industrial growth in the state.
Smt. Panja said that the date for the Bengal Global Business Summit this year has been fixed for November for three days. The President requested the State Government to assign a prominent role to MCCI in the ensuing Mega Event.
On mines and minerals, Smt. Panja said, apart from coal mines, there were a lot of possibilities in minor minerals, which the state was exploring. Deocha Pachami, she said, one of the largest coal mines, has started production, and providing power security to the industries was one of the prime agendas of the state government.
Ms. Priti. A. Sureka, Vice President, MCCI offered a hearty vote of thanks.
