Agitation cannot hold Essar Oil's CBM project, warns Partha Chatterjee

DURGAPUR (WB): No agitation will be allowed to stall the Essar Oil's coal bed methane project coming up near here in Burdwan district, West Bengal industry minister Partha Chatterjee has warned.

Residents of Kanksa, where the project is coming up, have for long been agitating against the project demanding employment.

The villagers are also aggrieved that the project is causing pollution and the company's vehicles are damaging the roads in the area.

In February, this year, more than 500 villagers, allegedly spearheaded by Trinamool Congress leaders, blocked the Pratappur-Kantaberia Road in the area for more than six hours.

Chatterjee held a meeting last night in the guest house of the Asansol-Durgapur Development Authority attended by state agriculture minister Moloy Ghatak, ADDA chairman and representatives of villagers to work out a solution.

The minister told the meeting, "Under no circumstances the project will be allowed to be stalled. This is the stated policy of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee."

He said that if there was any grievance, the villagers were free to approach the BDO or the SDO for redressal.