By IANS,
Durgapur (West Bengal) : Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Saturday said West Bengal needs investment for creating jobs and assailed the opposition parties for acting against the interests of unemployed youth by blocking the government’s industrialisation efforts.
“Some forces are opposing our industrialisation drive. Why are you opposing for opposition’s sake? It is against the interests of thousands of unemployed youth who are looking at us expectantly for jobs,” Bhattacharjee said ahead of the April-May general elections.
He was speaking at the inauguration of a 450,000 tonne alloy and stainless steel division of Jai Balaji Industries at its integrated steel plant here.
Refering to the Trinamool Congress-led opposition’s protests against the setting up of a petrochemical hub at Nayachar island near Haldia in East Midnapore district, Bhattacharjee asked: “Do you know the meaning of the word ‘petrochemical’?
“We will manufacture butadin from which rubber is made. And we will have polymers for the textile industry. And 100,000 jobs will be created,” he said.
Urging the opposition not to quarrel on such issues, the chief minister said instead they should cooperate with the government to find jobs for the youth.
Global auto major Tata Motors had to shift its Rs.100,000 car Nano from Singur in the state to Gujarat following protests by Trianmool Congress-led peasants against the acquisition of fertile agricultural land for the industry.
The state government was also forced to shelve its petochemical hub project in Nandigram following violent protests on the land acquisition issue. The initiative has now been shifted to Haldia.
Taking on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance dispensation at the centre for its ‘pro-US policies’, Bhattacharjee said: “We had told Delhi not to kowtow to the US. Now the whole world is in crisis because of recession and the US is the main culprit for the present situation. It has itself taken a big knock and is unable to recover”.
“We feel we should stand on our own feet. Look at China. It has made so much progress because it followed independent policies. We should also do the same and try to develop our country on our own strength,” he said.
Bhattacharjee’s party, the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M), along with three other left parties, provided crucial outside support to the UPA government for four years since the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. But the left outfits withdrew the support in the middle of last year protesting the UPA’s decision to go ahead with the US civil nuclear deal.