WB govt to continue with its policy of not acquiring land for companies wanting to set up units in state

The West Bengal government will continue with its policy of not acquiring land for companies wanting to set up units in the state but will handhold them instead, the state’s industry minister said. “We stick to our stand that we will not acquire land on our own, Partha Chatterjee told ET on Sunday.
"We have the option to provide land from the land bank as well and we WILL coordinate to support them." On whether the state government will invite the Tatas to invest in West Bengal, Chatterjee said the government has no issues with any particular company, especially the Tatas, and all companies are welcome into Bengal. “We have nothing against the Tatas. In Bengal, several Tata-owned companies are working on various projects. We never had any enmity with the Tatas, neither did we fight against them,” Chatterjee said.

“The Tatas (for the Singur fiasco) cannot be blamed. The problem was with the Left Front government and its forcible land acquisition policy.” In 2006, the Left Front government in the state had acquired 997.11 acres in Singur, which was multi-crop land, and handed it over to Tata Motors. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, then in the Opposition, called a 26-day hunger strike demanding the return of 347 acres of farmland which allegedly was "forcibly" acquired. Tata Motors had planned to set up its Nano car factory there.

The minister said the Tata Group is one of the biggest and most respected business houses in the country and also abroad. Tata Metaliks and TCS have bases in the state. Thirteen years after the anti-land acquisition stir in Singur, which became one of the planks that brought Trinamool Congress to power in West Bengal in 2011, and the return of land following the Supreme Court verdict, wooing industry back to Bengal has become one of the top priorities of the state government.

Emphasising job creation as the government’s main priority, Chatterjee said, “We have received some investment proposals from 25 small and medium organisations. We will provide land to them from our land bank in the state.” “Essar Oil has spoken of further expansion and investments in Bengal, with employment opportunities of 600 people. They propose to set up units in Durgapur and Panagarh area,” the minister said. He, however, did not share more details. A team from Assocham met me and gave us proposals about various sectors, including automobiles.