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Signature campaign for industrialisation in West Bengal

By IANS,

Kolkata : Kolkata will experience a different kind of gathering Sunday, when a group of professionals will come out on the streets in support of industrialisation.

The group, comprising engineers, IT professionals and teachers, would gather at Dharamtalla junction in the heart of the city at 4 p.m. to read out a memorandum in favour of industrialisation to the audience and take their views on it.

“We would do a gathering Sunday evening to garner support in favour of industrialisation in the state. This is an independent initiative of professionals from all segments of society and well wishers of the state of West Bengal,” said Ranjan Basu, one of the convenors of the rally.

“We expect a turnout of at least 2,000 people for this rally,” he added.

The group launched a website Aug 24 to register public opinion for the cause. As a sequel to the support campaign, they are organising this peaceful gathering to launch a signature campaign for the memorandum. They will later hand over the memorandum to the governor, the Calcutta High Court chief justice and the chief minister.

“In recent times, there has been a campaign to create an environment in which establishment of new industries in our state is projected to be against the interests of the people of West Bengal. The confusions created in the process have gone to the extent of subverting even the success of such a pioneering effort as the Nano factory at Singur,” Basu said.

He was referring to the ongoing agitation by the Trinamool Congress-backed Krishijami Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee against takeover of farmland for the Tata small car project at Singur.

The agitation, started last Sunday, is still continuing at the factory site.

The Rs.100,000 Nano car is scheduled to come out of Tata Motors’ stable in October. Work at the Singur plant has come to a halt in the last two days due to this agitation.

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said Aug 21 that if the stalemate did not improve over Singur land acquisition, the company might pull out of the state.