Investment pace slows down in North Bengal

SILIGURI: The land controversies in Singur, Nandigram and Kawakhali, the separatist movement in Darjeeling and the Lok Sabha election results in West Bengal have cast a shadow on the investment pace in North Bengal.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee often says North Bengal is full of potential and several entrepreneurs are interested in the region. But none from his ministry could confirm the list of investors, their investment volume or their possible arrival date.

The Salim Group from Indonesia, Videocon, Sonodyne, Dabur, Reliance, the owners of Mainland China and several others featured on the list of North Bengal investors presented by Mr Bhattacharjee before the last elections. It was echoed by local CPM leaders and state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya. According to them, six other major companies had sought over 2000 acres.

However, barring a few isolated cases, most investment proposals are hanging fire. The pace of land bank development by the district administration has also slowed down.

Meanwhile, a major section of the CPM in Jalpaiguri and the Forward Bloc in Cooch Behar have demanded the revival of existing projects before inviting new ones and utilisation of unused acquired land.

On condition of anonymity, a senior executive from a company earlier interested in North Bengal, said: "We have gone slow following the situation in Darjeeling. Moreover, going by the political scenario in the state, we would rather prefer a wait-and-see policy for the next two years."

However, Mr Bhattacharya said: "Yes, things are at a slower pace now. But we are confident of a major change in the scenario soon."