Buddhadeb and industry: It's a positive vibration

KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed on Friday that his government had succeeded in sending a positive signal to the industrialists in India and abroad and “that is why every day industrialists are coming to meet me”.

Addressing a gathering organised by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) at the Netaji Indoor Stadium this afternoon, the chief minister announced that Reliance will come to meet him on June 21. “I have an appointment with Reliance and they are coming to meet me on June 21,” Mr Bhattacharjee told the crowd.

“In fact, industrialists have started coming in more numbers from the day when the seventh Left Front government had announced its new Cabinet. The Tatas told me that they wanted to be here in Kolkata and witness the oath-taking ceremony of our government.

Ratan Tata has also expressed his desire to set up a cancer research centre in West Bengal when he met me last. We have promised to give them land at Rajarhat in North 24-Parganas district for the research centre,” the CM said.

“Even today an industrialist from abroad came and met me at Writers’ Buildings. They are planning to set up roads, a knowledge city, a health city and a special economic zone at Haldia,” Mr Bhattacharjee said without naming the Indonesia-based Salim group, which met him on Friday after their visit to Haldia in East Midnapore on Thursday.

Towing his party line, the CM also said that his government will not ignore agriculture though they were attaching importance to industrialisation of West Bengal. “We have received maximum investment in the iron and steel sector.

Strangely, the second-largest investment we have received is in the agriculture sector. We want to retain the success we have achieved in the agriculture sector, for which I have decided to set up a horticulture commission,” the CM announced.

Before making serious attempt to solve the problem of unemployment in West Bengal, he wants to know the exact number of unemployed youths in the state. “I have urged the Indian Statistical Institute to conduct a survey to ascertain the exact number of unemployed youths in our state,” Mr Bhattacharjee said.

“We want to solve the problem of unemployment by diversifying agriculture sector and through self-help groups (SHGs). We have set up an independent ministry for SHGs and self-employment.

The Nabarad chief who met me during the day, had praised our government for initiating the process of setting up SHGs to solve the problem of unemployment in both rural & urban Bengal,” Mr Bhattacharjee informed.

The chief minister has also warned the government employees and said “you will be punished severely once you fail to attend your duties on time and perform well”.

“My main intention is to establish a sensitive, responsible and corruption-free government. People who have voted for us would not forgive us if our officials misbehave with them. Even policemen should not discriminate between a rich man and a poor man in registering their complaints,” the chief minister said.