By IANS,
Kolkata : Hitting out at the Trinamool Congress for creating “hindrance to the growth of industry” in West Bengal, Industry Minister Nirupam Sen Monday alleged that investment has been pushed back in the state due to opposition of that party.
”Due to the role the main opposition party is playing in the state, investment has been pushed back. As you know because of their opposition Tata Motors plant could not be set up at Singur. They are also creating trouble in Haldia Petrochemicals. If the impediment was not there, then industrial growth in the state would have been much better and more employment would have been created,” Sen told a press conference here.
”Trinamool has been also creating hindrances to the setting up of a ship building plant at Haldia since the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009. Earlier, we had started acquiring land for the project. We had also taken appropriate rehabilitation package. But Trinamool is deliberately creating impediment there. They are opposing carrying out a socio-economic survey,” he said.
Informing that the government had acquired about 8,000 acres of land in the state recently, Sen said the land was acquired after getting consent of the local people.
”We acquired land in Durgapore, Raghunathpur, Panagar and Howrah. In our state in some cases the government has bought land directly. The government has directly bought land in Bankura district.”
The minister said the government would not oppose if private institutes acquired land directly from land owners or farmers.
”If in case of setting up big factories a large amount of land is needed and to acquire the land any problem arises then the government will intervene in the process,” he added.