Industrialisation of Nandigram unlikely

KOLKATA: The second round of violence in Nandigram may bring down the curtains on the region’s ambition to emerge as a mega chemicals hub.

Flanked by Haldia, home to Hadia Petrochem, the state’s only showcase mega industrial project so far, nondescript Nandigram, in the east Midnapore district, came into public eye when it was chosen as the site for a proposed 10,000-acre mega chemical hub to be set up by the Indonesia-based Salim group in 2005-06.

An investment of $500 million was proposed to be made in the SEZ. The project was to be part of a special economic zone was to be promoted by Salim group-led consortium, New Kolkata International Development.

The project received ‘in-principal’ approval from the Board of Approvals (BoA) under the union commerce ministry. The approvals were given together with a 12,500 acre multi-product SEZ proposed to be set up by the Salim group at neighbouring Haldia.

In first week of January, Nandigram stormed into public eye with a flare up in violence following a mistaken land acquisition notice put up by a local body, Haldia Development Authority.

The farmers resented what was then seen as an attempt at forcible acquisition of land. Following this, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had announced the project will be shifted out of Nandigram in case it continued to face local resistance.