Month: May 2015

Bengal allots land for proposed AIIMS at Kalyani

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The West Bengal Cabinet on Tuesday cleared 180 acres of land for the proposed AIIMS-like super- speciality hospital at Kalyani in Nadia district.

Speaking about the Cabinet decision, State’s Finance and Industry Minister Dr Amit Mitra said the entire 180 acres of land lay with the State Government under the Animal Resources Development Department.

“We have cleared the entire land valued at Rs 57 crore for the proposed AIIMS-like super-speciality hospital at Kalyani,” Dr Mitra said.  “Since the land is in hand, no problem is now left for this project. Now the issue is with the Centre for implementation of the project,” he said.

The State has also chosen Kalyani as a potential area for the development of a satellite township and several plots of land there have been identified for both residential and commercial purposes. The CM has named the Kalyani theme township Samriddhi. The Government will showcase the proposed six theme township projects during the Chief Minister’s London visit slated July.

CBI takes up cases which suit it politically: Mamata Banerjee

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that Central Bureau of Investigation takes up cases which “suits it politically” and does not show interest in others.

The Chief Minister told the State Assembly that earlier she had the “penchant for seeking a CBI probe into incidents” but it was changing now.

She said she had referred 14 cases to the central agency but it did not take up those. From the Tapasi Malik case to killing of innocents in Nandigram, CBI has failed in all cases, she said.

“They do what suits them politically,” she said. The Chief Minister said her idea of CBI was changing and it was “only about marketing”.

It had also closed the case relating to theft of Nobel medal of Rabindranath Tagore as it failed to do anything, she added.

West Bengal’s debt repayment burden to multiply: Amit Mitra

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West Bengal’s annual debt repayment burden would grow sharply in coming years as maturity dates of the loans taken by the previous Left Front government were drawing closer, state Finance Minister Amit Mitra said.

Replying during the Question Hour in the Assembly, Mitra said during 2015-16, the debt repayment amount would be Rs 8,877 crore, which is set to rise to Rs 9,781 crore in the next financial year.

In 2017-18, the amount would multiply to reach Rs 18,359 crore which, he said, would be a great burden on the state, Mitra said. According to him, this will happen as ten, 12 and 15 years loan were going to mature.

Mitra said that the state government was making provisions towards this and also by sticking to fiscal and revenue discipline. He said that one silver lining was that the state GDP was rising at a rapid pace while the debt/GSDP ratio was falling.

Attacking the Left Front, Mitra said that the loan burden as on March, 2015 as per revised estimates was Rs 2.74 lakh crore. When the Trinamool Congress came to power in May, 2011, the inherited debt was close to Rs 2 lakh crore.

In the first four years of TMC rule, the debt increased by Rs 82,946 crore, out of which Rs 76,346 crore were spent towards interest and principal repayment.

During the four years from 2011, the ruling government had borrowed only Rs 6,617 crore which was used for its own spending, Mitra said.

Pointing out that West Bengal was caught in a debt trap, Mitra said that he and the chief minister have discussed the matter with the UPA government and the present NDA government for amortisation of the debt repayment schedule, but there was no positive outcome from either of them.

The UPA government offered $10 billion to the IMF for tackling the Eurozone crisis, but ignored the cry of a federal state which was in deep distress, he regretted. He also accused the Left Front of breaching the borrowing limit under FRBM Act.

West Bengal government allots land for investment over Rs 1000 Cr

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The West Bengal Cabinet Tuesday cleared land to a number of investors ensuring an investment of Rs 1,004.25 crore with direct employment opportunities to 1,539 people in the state.

Announcing this after the state cabinet meeting here, state finance and industry minister Amit Mitra said all these land have been allotted to the investors within various industrial parks controlled by the WBIDC.

Altogether 14 units would come up over 97 acres of land under five industrial parks, he said. Mitra said CPF (India) Pvt Ltd and Prasad Seeds Pvt Ltd would set up their units under Vidyasagar Industrial Park at Kharagpur with an investment of Rs 550 crore and Rs 15 crore respectively.

Emami Cement Ltd would set up its Rs 418 crore unit at the Panagarh Industrial Park in Burdwan district, while Essar Oil Ltd under the same Park, also got its required land cleared for laying its proposed pipeline, he said.

Similarly, seven units would come up under the Gems and Jewellery Park at Ankurhati (Domjur) following allotment of land to the investors. Besides, two units would come up at Paridhan – the Garment Park, while another unit would come up at the Zari Hub at Sankrail in Howrah district, the minister added.

Law and order in Bengal better than other states: Partha Chatterjee

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West Bengal Education and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Dr Partha Chatterjee today slammed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for his comments on the law and order situation in West Bengal.

Partha Chatterjee said, “Rajnath Singh Ji spoke like a party leader and not a Central Minister. Was he trying to please his party workers?” He also added, “Law and order situation in Bengal is far better than other states.”

The minister also took Rajnath Singh Ji to task for his comments on Teesta water sharing treaty, describing it as “uncalled for”. “He should not have spoken about Teesta water sharing treaty without consulting State government,” said Partha Chatterjee while addressing reporters at the State Assembly.

WB Govt to use jute bags for packaging paddy

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West Bengal Government will now use 70% of jute made bags to package paddy. This was decided in a high-level meeting held at the State Secretariat, Nabanna.

Almost 40 lakh people in the State are directly or indirectly connected with jute. Last year, West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee had formed a committee of ministers to form a separate policy on jute.

This committee comprised state industry and commerce minister Dr Amit Mitra, food minister Mr Jyotipriya Mullick, agriculture minister Mr Purnendu Bose, labour minister Mr Malay Ghatak and the State jute commissioner.

Another committee has been formed in the meeting to procure jute bags for packaging of paddy. Such steps will be of much help to all the people connected to the jute industry in the State.

Bengal on firm footing, financially more robust

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Written by noted economist Abhirup Sarkar

The state under the Mamata Banerjee government seems to be doing quite well, financially. The tax revenue as a per cent of the State Domestic Product has improved: it is at about five per cent now. It could have improved more but Bengalis spend more on consumables like meat and fish, which are non-taxable, than they would spend on say, buying a car.

In terms of infrastructure, I feel that the condition of roads especially state highways have improved dramatically in the last four years. I travel a lot and feel that the condition of the National Highways is not as good. Say, if you are driving from Barasat to Siliguri, you realise that the Highways Authority of India haven’t done much and they would not do anything till they have acquired the entire stretch of the land. On the other hand, the road from Jalpaiguri to Siliguri has improved a lot in terms of maintenance.

The government has also done extremely well in terms of rural electrification and public distribution system.

I’d say that earlier, the block level party bosses or the panchayat netas had a lot of say in providing these services to the people. But now, works have sped up with the bureaucracy being made accountable for development. Also, the fact that Mamata Banerjee is holding review meetings with the district administration on a regular basis is having a positive effect on development.

As far as the state of industrialisation is concerned, the entire nation is not seeing any big industrial growth. Bengal is no exception. However, our industrial parks are doing well. There are small, medium and even big set-ups there in textiles, software etc. So far as the land problem goes in the state, I think it is over-hyped. All state governments are competing with each other in offering sops like tax and subsidies. All that the Trinamool Congress government has said is that it cannot forcibly take away land from the farmers.

It is only after fighting for farmers’ rights that the party came to power in 2011. Industrialists have to buy land in Bengal just as they buy other things while setting up a unit. Also, they cannot expect 1,000 acres of continuous land in prime areas, which are densely populated.

I feel that on the whole, the Mamata Banerjee government has done well enough to win the Assembly polls next year.

There is nothing we have not done to honour Nazrul: WB CM

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West Bengal Government today celebrated the 116th birth anniversary of the Rebel Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam through a special cultural programme at Nazrul Mancha.

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee, who was the main speaker on the occasion, said that the State government has done everything to give a fitting tribute to Kazi Nazrul Islam.

“We have set up Nazrul Tirtha. We started a university named after him. We have named the first Greenfield Airport of India at Andal after Kazi Nazrul Islam. We have dedicated a chair to Nazrul Islam at Calcutta University,” she said.

“The words of Nazrul Islam had the power to influence the fight for independence. Nazrul, Rabindranath, Swami Vivekananda continue to inspire us. Kazi Nazrul Islam is a big pillar of our culture and our existence,” she added.

The State Government today gave away awards and recognition to various eminent stalwarts from fields of art and culture. These awards were given by the academies and councils under the I & C A Department. “I am honoured to be sharing the stage with so many eminent artists today,” remarked the Chief Minister.

Family members of the Rebel Poet performed on the occasion. Nazrul’s daughter-in-law Kalyani Kazi said, “We thank WB CM Mamata Di for the honour bestowed on my father in law. Mamata Di promised to give Nazrul Islam his due honour when she was Rail Minister. She delivered her promise.”

WB CM Mamata Banerjee had posted a tribute to Kazi Nazrul Islam earlier today on Twitter:

Didi wishes David Cameron with a hand-written note

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West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee has sent a hand-written congratulatory note to David Cameron after he returned to 10 Downing Street for his second term as Britain’s prime minister.

The gesture – WB CM was the only head of an Indian state to congratulate Mr Cameron – is expected to go a long way in strengthening ties between Britain and Bengal.

When WB CM arrives in Britain on July 26, she will also become the first chief minister from India to hold a bilateral meeting with Cameron in his second term. It will be Mamata Banerjee’s second business trip, and her first to UK, since taking over office.

The British Prime Minister, who met Ms Mamata Banerjee during his Kolkata trip in 2013, had personally invited the CM.

“Kolkata is expanding and there is huge need for infrastructure development and town planning in which Britain has tremendous expertise. You also need to clean up your rivers and waterways, just like we had to do with the Thames,” David Cameron had said.

State work culture woos back investors

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Thanks to the revived atmosphere of business activities in Bengal, an achievement by the Trinammol Congess Government during the last four years, industrialists who had left the State in disgust during the Left rule, are slowly returning back to Bengal.

Companies like International Commerce, which left Bengal in 1992, are now flocking back to Bengal, which has come out from the perils of strikes, bandhs and hartals. The mentioned company specializes in mining coal in the coal belt of the State and could complete its order within just six months and could mine an extra 40%, all because of the improved work culture that now exists in Bengal.

Incidentally, the West Bengal Government has taken up different industrial policies to boost growth of industry in the State. The peril of ‘red tapism’ is all but a history. E-governance has taken over and single window clearance system is in place for the investors.