‘Deemed clearance’ for conversion & mutation of land for Industry to be given: Dr Amit Mitra

‘Deemed clearance’ for conversion & mutation of land for Industry to be given: Dr Amit Mitra

Posted on September 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The West Bengal Government will give `deemed clearance’ for conversion and mutation of land for industry if the department concerned fails to submit the report within the time frame.

State commerce and industries Minister Dr Amit Mitra told that CM Mamata Banerjee has taken this step to “further ease the process of doing business in Bengal“. “Earlier, it used to take 5-6 months for conversion and mutation of land but now in some cases, it is happening in 7-10 days. Conversion and mutation of land will be electronically linked,“ he said.

Earlier, addressing the annual general meeting of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Dr Mitra said that apart from environment clearance from West Bengal Pollution Control Board, all the other clearances related to industry will be `deemed’.

To make business easier in Bengal and boost investors’ confidence, fire safety licences will now be issued online to those willing to set up new units. Fire services minister Javed Ahmed Khan said, “We have hired a company to create a dedicated portal for this. It’s expected to be operational by the end of the year.“

In June, the West Bengal Chief MinIster had declared she would move to the `next level’ of smoothing out the process of doing business here. This included 30 days for land conversion and 21 days for mutation of land. The state has already empowered industry promotion bodies like West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), Webel, WBIIDC and WBSIDC to sanction building plans for industrial purposes.

On the second Bengal Global Business Summit, Mitra said out of Rs 2.43 lakh crore proposed investment in the state, processing has started for Rs 91,000 crore.“We have started road shows. The one in Delhi was very encouraging. Industrialists have said experience of doing business in Bengal is better than in other states,“ the Minister added.

“Capital expenditure has grown by 601% in the last four years since our government took over. It was Rs 2,225 crore in 2010-11 and it went up to Rs 13,375 crore in 2014-15. The growth of physical infrastructure was also more than 330%,“ Dr Mitra pointed out.

US companies show interest to partner with West Bengal for smart cities

Posted on September 10, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

With four smart cities coming up in West Bengal, US-based multinationals like HP, Cisco and Otis have shown interest in partnering with the state. The companies are actively looking into technological collaboration with the State Government agencies to get the proposed smart cities rolling.

“Hewlett-Packard has shown interest in health care and telemedicine while Pratt & Whitney in providing elevator services,” Dr Amit Mitra, State Finance and Industry Minister said at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

US-based Cisco has shown interest in e-learning and e-health solutions. Beverage firms CocaCola and Pepsi have also shown interest of further investment.

Dr Mitra said 25% of the allotted land in each of these theme townships will be kept to develop the “theme while the rest is to be dedicated for other purposes”.

He said in the recent roadshow held in New Delhi to attract investment for these theme townships, Kajaria Cements along with Hiranandanis and the Piramals have shown interest.

Giving an update over the progress of the Rs 2.43 lakh crore investment proposals concluded during the Bengal Business Summit in January this year, Mitra said around Rs.87,000 crore is already in process.

The West Bengal Government, which had organized a road show in New Delhi to attract investment and technological partners for the proposed smart cities, met the multinationals’ representatives on Monday at New Delhi. One of the multinationals has shown interest in the proposed smart city projects in Durgapur and Haldia as they already have a base there. Two officials of the US department of treasury had been to Kolkata to discuss the State’s plans to develop the smart cities. West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) is also working with the representatives of Future Cities Catapult (FCC), a UK-based urban planning agency, to chalk out how the smart cities can be developed. Bengal has signed an MoU with FCC in London during Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee’s recent visit there.

The State is also developing theme-based cities in areas like Baruipur, Kalyani, Asansol, Siliguri, Dumurjola and Shantiniketan. FICCI has shown interest in partnering with the state for the proposed theme city project on 127 acres in Shantiniketan. At Asansol, the industry-themed city is likely to be promoted in association with the CII, while the Baruipur senior citizen-themed city will be promoted in association with the CREDAI, Bengal.

The State Government is also inviting bids for the cities till September 21.

Bengal to conduct road shows in Delhi to promote theme city project

Posted on September 7, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The West Bengal Government has taken unique measures to set up the six theme cities in the State. Roadshows will be conducted at Delhi from today in order to attract investments for the theme cities in Asansol, Kalyani, Siliguri, Baruipir, Shantiniketan and Dumurjola.

The State Government has now associated itself with different chambers of commerces in order to promote the six theme cities.

The Asansol industry-themed city will be promoted in association with the CII.

The Kalyani IT-themed city will be promoted in association with the BCCI.

The Siliguri Education & Health-themed city will be promoted in association with the AHI

And the Baruipur senior citizen-themed city will be promoted in association with the CREDAI.

The two other cities, the culture-themed city at Shantiniketan and the sports-themed city at Dumurjola, will be also be promoted with different industry bodies.

Egiye Bangla – New reality show to promote entrepreneurship in Bengal

Posted on September 7, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is well known for his television show Dadagiri and now he is heading to host another show and this time the request came from none other than Didi (Mamata Banerjee) to host Egiye Bangla – apni jokhon entrepreneur.

The show is being sponsored by Bengal government, as Mamata Banerjee wants to promote – Shilpo Karun, Bangla Gorun and for that small entrepreneurs are now being focused to create jobs.

Mamata Banerjee in her facebook post mentioned on Sunday:

“Bengal is launching an exclusive business reality show in Bengali. The show will target young entrepreneurs, with unique business ideas and help them to achieve their dreams. Our very own Sourav Ganguly has come forward to be the face of the show. Sourav will ignite young minds to be successful entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”

The show is the brain child of the Bengal Chief Minister as she had been preaching for long to create entrepreneurs and now to encourage green horns to be entrepreneurs this show is being planned.

The show will be aired in prime time in a Bengali channel, said Derek O’Brien Trinamool MP who is also involved in conceptualizing the TV show.

West Bengal Govt to launch Pran Dhara bottled water for consumers

Posted on August 25, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The West Bengal Government has ventured to produce bottled drinking water Pran Dhara with seven bottling plants across the state. The Public Health & Engineering Department, responsible for supplying safe drinking water to all the people of the state has done a record amount of work though it had to create proper infrastructure.

The seven plants producing around three thousand bottled water per hour are at Haringhata, Nodakhali, Baharampur, Maldah, Siliguri and Coochbehar. Two more plants are being set up soon. The 1 lt bottle will cost Rs 18 while the 500 ml bottle will cost Rs 9.

State Public Health & Engineering Minister Subrata Mukherjee said that Pran Dhara is using surface water from the Hooghly River, which is being processed to get rid of all impurities and harmful elements through proper scientific processes of distillation.

It has been experienced during relief works that water pouches produced through Mobile Treatment Units (MTU) are very useful for easy distribution of drinking water to the stranded people, but this type of packaging is not sustainable for a long time and also may get damaged due to leaking/bursting of poly packs.

To overcome these difficulties, the Public Health Engineering Department introduced ‘Pran Dhara’. For the first time this type of Package Drinking Water Plant was installed at Dakshin Roypur Water Treatment Plant Complex in the year 2012-13 in accordance with BIS Specifications. Capacity of this plant is 3600 Bottles of 1000 ml or 500 ml per hour.

WB CM forms 9-member committee to free land of closed industrial units

Posted on August 22, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The Mamata Banerjee government has formed a group of ministers (GoM) to find out ways to free land of closed industrial units in areas near Calcutta so that fresh investments can be invited.

“The nine-member GoM will look into different aspects of the closed industries in the state. But the primary objective will be to free land of closed industrial units and invite fresh investments on the prime plots,” a minister told reporters.

Senior officials said the chief minister was trying to pave the way for new industries before the Assembly elections next year as she could face questions on the lack of investments in Bengal.

The committee would include Dr Amit Mitra (Finance & Industries), Firhad Hakim (Urban Development), Partha Chatterjee (Education), Chandrima Bhattacharya (Law), Manish Gupta (Power), Subrata Mukherjee (Panchayat), Malay Ghatak (Labour), Purnendu Bose (Agriculture) and Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar (Environment).

The government had recently freed nearly 200 acres in Nadia’s Kalyani from 11 closed units.

Proposals flooding in for investments in Theme Cities: Urban Development Minister

Posted on August 18, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

More than 50 organisations from foreign countries and other states of India are giving proposals for investments for the six Theme City projects in Bengal.

Investment proposals have also been received for IT and Financial Hubs. State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim disclosed the information after returning from the International Urban Development Summit held at Istanbul.

At the Summit, the State Urban Development Minister termed himself as the ‘marketing representative’ of Bengal and invited the investors to come to Bengal and feel the warmth and make investments. He pointed out to them that India is one of the few places in Asia which has huge opportunities for making investments and Bengal is the best State to invest into.

The State Urban Development Minister gave various examples of the theme township projects as well as the good governance of the stable Government. He said that the investors have showed major interest on Baruipur theme township project which is going to be connected to the extended EM Bypass soon.

Rs 120 crore compensation to flood-affected tant weavers

Posted on August 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Government will provide compensation to the tune of Rs 120 crore to all the flood-affected tant weavers in the State.

The post-flood review has found out that the tant weavers of the south Bengal have suffered immense loss. The State Government had launched the programme Tant Sathi recently. Rs 120 crore has now been allotted to Tant Sathi for the compensation to the tant weavers.

Tant is one of the most popular products from the State and has been receiving international acclaims for centuries.

The State Government organization Tantuja, which was a ‘sick’ organization and driven to the brink by the past Government, had made a turnaround under the present Government and has made a profit of Rs 1.98 crore this year.

Laura Ashley to sell Biswa Bangla handicraft in UK, Japan

Posted on August 4, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Organic Baluchari sarees and balaposh of Murshidabad, terra cotta from Bishnupur and sitalpati mats from Cooch Behar: all these Bengal specialties will now be found on shelves at high-end retail stores in the UK and Japan.

Laura Ashley, one of the leading home furnishing retail chains of the UK, which also has a strong presence in Japan, will soon start selling Bengal products under its brand name. The initiative, courtesy an agreement between Obeetee and Laura Ashley signed during West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee’s recent visit to London, will be supported by Biswa Bangla Corporation.

With the help of Biswa Bangla, handicraft from Bengal will be procured and supplied to the UK retail chain. A Laura Ashley team will visit the state in September to shortlist products for its outlets in London, Tokyo and other cities in the UK and Japan.

Laura Ashley is looking at products like, Baluchari, Kantha-stitch fabric from Santiniketan, terra cotta articles, jute products from North 24-Parganas and Hooghly and bamboo craft from Jalpaiguri. Following a deal signed during the WB CM’s visit to Singapore last year, an initial deal was signed which is proving to be fruitful.

Bengal shines in London, thanks to the initiatives of WB CM

Posted on August 2, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee truncated her visit to London by a day because of the natural calamities in Bengal. That did not stop the 5-day visit to UK from being a success.

As the Chief Minister had said before leaving on July 25, this visit helped a lot in dispelling myths about West Bengal and gave the State an image-makeover.

MoUs signed

The delegation to the UK clinched 21 MoUs with the UK in the fields of industry, health, education and urban development.

The agreements were signed during a bilateral meeting with Britain’s Minister of State for Employment and British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Indian Diaspora champion Priti Patel at a reception hosted at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London on July 26.

WB CM with delegates at the British Foreign Office

“This is a landmark visit… These MoUs will help bring the UK and West Bengal ever closer, and unleash the potential of our relationship,” Patel said in her address.

“If you say London is the (financial) capital of the world, I say Bengal is the human capital of the world,” WB CM said in her address.

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Come to Bengal, Ride the growth

Speaking at a gathering of British and Indian business delegates, organised by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), the Finance and Industries Minister Dr Amit Mitra assured British investors that the government has taken steps to bring down the labour strikes to zero levels, as it made a strong case for attracting investments.

“We are setting up systems in place. There has been a radical shift since 2010-11, when 7.6 lakh work days were lost [due to labour strikes]. By 2013, the number of working days lost came down to zero. It takes time for mind-sets to change but please come to Bengal and we can assure very clear worker management processes,” he said.

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WB CM taking a walk by the Thames

Letter from the UK PM

UK PM David Cameron, who could not be in London because of a foreign visit, sent a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee on Monday apologising for his absence. “I wish you a successful and rewarding visit which will help forge the close ties between UK and Bengal,” reads an excerpt from the letter.

“My message for the British PM is that he must visit Kolkata again soon and see that it is truly the gateway to the east,” WB CM said in response to the letter.

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Reception at Buckingham Palace

Mamata Banerjee on Monday became the first chief minister from an Indian state to get an official reception at Buckingham Palace, Britain’s most iconic address. Prince Andrew hosted an evening tea for the Chief Minister at the house of the monarch.

WB CM at Buckingham Palace with Prince Andrew

The Chief Minister had a 40-minute one-on-one interview with Prince Andrew, who described her as “a very dynamic leader, leading a dynamic government, sowing the transformation of Bengal”. The prince, it was learnt, has gifted the chief minister a bag with motifs of Buckingham Palace on it.

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WB CM wins hearts at Asia House, UK

The West Bengal Chief Minister invited the members of Asia House, London – the probable investors – to come and scout the State for exploring investment opportunities.

She received a standing ovation from the members of the Asia House who admitted that they were mesmerised by her speech and were glad to know about the investment opportunities in Bengal.

WB CM at Asia House, London

“The state is undergoing a major deregulation drive to make doing business in the state easier, faster and more transparent. Upgrading social infrastructure is running parallel to strengthening industrial infrastructure. Attractive incentive packages and regulations have also been introduced to attract investment,” said a note on the Asia House website.

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The London trip got a lot of praise from the media too. Here is an article praising the initiatives of Mamata Banerjee to attract investments for Bengal.