By IANS,
Kolkata: An NRI industrialist says a civic body run by West Bengal’s ruling Left Front has advised him to talk to the main opposition Trinamool Congress before acquiring land for a project.
Astonfield Renewable Resources Limited (ARRL) is awaiting approval to set up a 54 MW waste energy generating unit in Kolkata’s eastern fringes with an investment of Rs.600 crore.
The project is proposed to supply 37 MW to the grid and the rest is for internal consumption.
“I’ve had meetings with authorities of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and they asked me to talk to the opposition Trinamool Congress leadership to resolve the land issue before any acquisition,” Astonfield Management Inc co-chairman and director Sourabh Sen said here Wednesday.
“I have still not been given clearances to start the project. My project partner Veolia ES has categorically told us to pull out the investment and move out of this state.”
He said the company required only 30 acres of land, out of total 186 hectares, at the proposed site of Dhapa ground for setting up the unit.
The proposal for the project was first made in 2007 and it was initially cleared by the state government after some technical revisions.
“I’ve told the city civic authorities to give me the clearance by October this year. I will wait for just the next three months. If I don’t get it by then, I shall have to think of other options. We’ve two more states to move this waste energy plant,” Sen said, declining to share the names of these two states.
“I am super frustrated with the KMC authorities. The administration is just dilly-dallying the project. Everywhere there’s a quagmire of political issues in the state. There should be a single-window clearance system in West Bengal,” he said, but added: “I am still optimistic about this project.”
Land acquisition has emerged a major issue in the state after the Trinamool-led opposition carried out a sustained campaign against the state government’s bid to acquire land for setting up Tata Motors’ Nano plant in Singur and a chemical hub in Nandigram.
While the Tatas shifted the plant to Sanand in Gujarat, the state government was forced to scrap the chemical hub project after violent protests.
The land issue led to large sections of people, fearful of losing land, turn to the opposition which reaped rich dividends in all recent polls in the state.