By IANS
Kolkata : All constituents of West Bengal’s ruling Left Front Tuesday agreed to the choice of Nayachar in East Midnapore to set up a chemical hub.
“All the Left Front partners have welcomed the choice of Nayachar as a chemical hub site. We also discussed the industrial development in the state based on a report placed by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose told reporters after a meeting of the ruling coalition.
An all-party meeting convened by Bhattacharya Sep 3 had reached a consensus on the proposed chemical hub in the state after months of wrangling between the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and non-Left parties on the issue.
The Trinamool Congress, the main opposition spearheading a movement against the chemical hub, and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), did not attend the meeting.
The state government had earlier decided to set up a chemical hub in Nandigram, around 150 km from here in the same district, but it got mired in dispute and bloodbath when the farmers there started a movement against land acquisition, leading to the death of 25 people.
The state government owns 11,000 hectares of land at Nayachar, a 40 sq km island on the Hooghly riverbed in East Midnapore district, about 150 km from here. Some of the land is also owned by the Haldia Development Authority (HDA).
The government had supported the choice of Nayachar as it is least populated. State Industries Minister Nirupam Sen said except for some fishermen, the island is not inhabited.
The state government intends to build a bridge to connect Nayachar with Haldia.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) would set up a 15 million tonne refinery in the chemical hub. The government wants to build a deep-sea port in Haldia to enable IOC to bring crude oil to the refinery.