Singur, Nandigram did not impede investment: Min

Protests over land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram have not had any major impact on investment flows into West Bengal, state industry minister Nirupam Sen said.

"Much has been written about Nandigram and Singur. But even during the phase, large amount of investments have come to the state," Sen said on Wednesday at a meeting organised by Assocham in Kolkata.

He said in spite of excessive negative campaign about the state, many investors were showing interest in the state. "It is not a matter of joke," he said.

"In the past one year, the state got proposals for 65 new units with an average unit size of Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion)," he said.

Sen said that most of the units were in the medium sector. He said these units would require around 1300 acres to 1400 acres for which land was already available with the state government.

"This is an encouraging trend and everything is not gloomy," the minister said.

Chiding the Trinamool Congress, Sen said, "One political party which tried to oppose industry in the state is now trying to project that it is not anti-industry.

"It is a good sign. Everybody has realised that there is a need for industry," he said.

Sen said that WBIDC was also in the process of setting up 25 industrial clusters in the state.

Talking about the much-debated issue of land acquisition, Sen said industry bodies were in favour of direct purchase of land from the owners and state governments to be mere facilitators.

Disapproving this approach, he said, purchase of land was not akin to buying commodities.

"The state government does have an important role to play," he said, adding that he was also not opposed to direct purchase.

He said for acquiring large tracts of land, the state government would have to consider issues like rehabilitation and development of the area.

Referring to negotiations with the Tatas for returning of Singur land for setting up of a rail coach factory based on the proposal given by the railways, Sen said that official discussions were yet to take place.

Image: Nirupam Sen