By IANS,
Kolkata : A section of West Bengal’s main opposition Trinamool Congress was obstructing the proposed IT park project at Rajarhat here, Housing Development Minister Gautam Deb alleged Wednesday.
“A few Trinamool leaders are trying to obstruct the project. I would like to request all our state leaders, including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Trinamool chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, and union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to come and start working together for the development of the state,” he said.
The state government has acquired 200 acres of contiguous land for the Rajarhat IT hub, in which industry majors like Infosys Technologies and Wipro have sought space.
“Our opposition leaders, especially the railway minister, are not showing the right approach for development of the state. This is not a proper attitude for a railway minister. They should send out a strong message to eight crore Bengalis,” Deb told a press conference.
He said Banerjee had asked for land from the state government to set up railway tracks and some of these areas comprise cultivable land and paddy fields.
“We’ll give land to the railways as we support development activities. But if the railway minister thinks she can buy land directly, then why she’s asking for it from the state government?” he added.
Talking about the Vedic village land controversy, a spa resort in Rajarhat, the minister said the land had been distributed to the realtors following suggestions from the land procurement committee, which also had opposition leaders as members.
“If necessary I am ready to have a dialogue with the opposition leaders of my state on the issue,” Deb said.
The spa resort at Rajarhat has been in the news after a part of it was set afire Aug 23 by a mob incensed over some miscreants taking shelter in its premises after killing one person.
The miscreants, including local tough Gabbar, had hurled bombs and fired ndiscriminately after their team lost a game in a soccer tournament. A youth was killed in the violence.
A day later, police recovered a cache of arms and bomb-making material from inside the 1,600-acre project area of promoters Vedic Realty, the holding company of the Vedic Village.
The controversy has escalated over the last few days with questions being raised of involvement of state ministers and opposition leaders in illegal land deals which allegedly benefited the Vedic owners.
Vedic Realty managing director Raj Kishore Modi and project manager Biplab Biswas have already been arrested.