Mamata to draw up new industry policy

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Partha Chatterjee Unaware Of Move Hands-Off Policy On Land To Continue
Ajanta Chakraborty TNN

Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to junk Bengal’s decade-old industry policy drawn up by the Jyoti Basu government in 1994 and adopt a new one in keeping with changing realities. Ironically, state industries minister Partha Chatterjee is unaware of the move.
Mamata has entrusted former Union minister Saugata Roy with the job of drafting the new policy. Roy has already sent out letters to industry captains and chambers seeking their opinion.
When TOI contacted Chatterjee on Wednesday, he was clueless. “What policy? What letter?” the minister asked.
Roy, however, confirmed the move. “A new industrial policy will be formulated for the state keeping in mind current realities. Since I am no expert on industry, it’s only logical that I should seek ideas from those who are an integral part of the sector,” he said.
While Mamata’s move is being interpreted as an attempt at damage control in the wake of the Haldia port imbroglio and Tuesday’s Birbhum flare-up, the new policy is unlikely to enthuse industry because the government plans to continue with its hands-off policy on land acquisition.
The chief minister has set the terms of reference for the policy — no land acquisition and no setting up of SEZs. She has asked Roy to carve out a policy on these lines.
The Trinamool veteran, now a member of the chief minister’s advisory council overseeing industry and IT, has been provided an office in the old WBIDC building on Council House Street from where he has started sending out letters to industrialists seeking “urgent feedback by email or post or through one-and-one meetings”. Biz captains stay away from Kolkata Ficci meet
The poor perception about Bengal was reflected in the poor turnout at the executive committee meeting of industry chamber Ficci in the city on Wednesday. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee also decided to stay away from the chamber’s meet, an opportunity that other chief ministers lap up to build bridges with industrialists and woo capital. P 4 Govt anxious about flight of investors
Saugata Ray’s letters to industry captains and chambers stress that the CM’s hands-off policy on land acquisition is for keeps. So is the “fundamental position of the government on no special economic zones (SEZs)”. Despite this, Roy feels “there is still a lot of scope for coming up with the right policy”.
Kallol Dutta, president, Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “The move shows the government is serious about industry. We shall be happy to give our opinion openly.”
Sanjay Budhia, chairman, CII exports committee, said, “Now that we can talk formally and informally with the government on the industrial policy, we shall seek a comparison of the industrial policies of other states. I am sure Saugata Roy and Partha Chatterjee will come up with a blue print for Bengal’s rejuvenation.”
In her 17-month tenure, Mamata has met industry heads thrice and on each occasion she has spelt out that her government would not help in acquisition of land and that they would have to buy land directly from farmers.
Industrial climate in the state has been on a free fall in recent months. Two months ago Assocham said it was apprehensive as “investment proposals in Bengal had dropped from Rs 9 lakh crore to Rs 5.94 lakh crore in three years”.
Last week, cargo-handler Haldia Bulk Terminals pulled out of Haldia port citing breakdown in law and order. On Tuesday, policemen clashed with landlosers at Birbhum’s Loba village where work on DVC-Emta’s coal mining project is stuck for over a year.
Her government may be putting up a brave front, but it is clear that the CM is desperate in the face of imminent flight of investors. She has repeatedly claimed that big industrialists with investment proposals are queuing up at Writers’. But other than Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant, few big-ticket investors have flocked to the state.