December 15, 2008

CM shares Vision-2010 with industry honchos



KOLKATA:15 Dec 2008, 0321 hrs IST, TNN


It was a Friday evening with that dash of difference. Kolkata's corporate czars converged at a city five-star hotel to participate in a unique interaction with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, organised by The Economic Times. It was the denouement of ET's month-long campaign, Kolkata 2010: The Business Blueprint', in which most of them had shared thoughts on ways to galvanise industry in West Bengal. True to his promise, the CM walked in sharp at 6 pm.

For the next one hour, he took on with aplomb a range of queries from CEOs. Minutes after industries minister Nirupam Sen finished speaking, Bhattacharjee addressed the gathering. He thanked the editorial board and management of ET for organising a "unique event". The evening's moderator, Professor Anup Sinha of IIM, Calcutta, had structured the interaction whereby initially there were two pre-set questions on the all important issues land and infrastructure.

This was followed by an open house Q&A round. The session got under way with Umesh Chowdhary, vice-chairman & MD Titagarh Wagons asking the CM whether the government was considering any proposal to set up a land bank to accommodate industry. The CM said: "The question is whether we will acquire land and create a land bank. We have finally decided to mobilise funds and acquire land in four to five districts. We will then be in a position to offer land for various industries."

The second question to the CM on infrastructure came from Hemant Kanoria, chairman and MD of Srei Infrastructure Finance. "The RBI governor, whom I met a couple of days back, had said infrastructure is the one sector that is unlikely to be touched by the crisis. Power, roads, irrigation for instance," the chief minister noted in his response. The CM also said his government had been internally discussing whether it should invite public-private partnership in the power and road sectors. "We have agreed in principle. But it is at a preliminary stage. We need to experiment with it and work out the modalities. Any PPP for infrastructure is welcome."

Bhattacharjee said the global meltdown and its impact on the state, particularly in the auto and steel sectors, was uppermost on his mind. Around seven steel projects are expected to come up in the state. "I do not know whether they will go ahead or take some more time, given the global crisis," a somewhat anxious CM said.

Earlier, Nirupam Sen had set the proceedings rolling by urging "enlightened sections of society" and people of the state to carry forward the torch of industrialisation. "In Europe, it was the Renaissance that heralded industrialisation. New ideas, new thinking, new philosophy, rationality, reasoning and understanding all these are key conditions of an industrial revolution,"

he said. Bengal, he said, carries such a heritage. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray and his Bengal Chemicals or companies like National Tanneries and Duckback were set up by intellectuals, not industrialists. "Finally, building a consensus among people could overcome the chasm created by political ideologies. The government will play its role in spurring the process."

CRPF with the help of local people breaks open lock to return to camp

KOLKATA, 14 December, 2008: Local police and jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had to break open the lock to return to a police camp at Ramgarh in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district on Sunday after leaders of the recent agitation against alleged police excesses in the region in possession of the key failed to hand it back despite repeated requests.
The police vacated the camp late last month when the month-long agitation by a section of the local tribal population was at its peak. The return of the security forces is part of the process of restoration of normality in the region, N.S. Nigam, District Magistrate, told Hindu The over telephone from Medinipur.

Leaders of the agitation said they had not been given prior intimation of the return of the police and jawans and the key to the lock was with one of their colleagues who could not be contacted on time. The key was given to them when the police had vacated the camp. The lock was broken after the security forces were kept waiting for nearly four hours.

The stir was called off on December 7 following an assurance by the local authorities that the demands of the protestors, which included action against those policemen guilty of committing excesses local villagers, will be considered. Its leaders will be meeting in Lalgarh on Monday to decide their next course of action.

Officials of the administration as well as the police are now regularly visiting Lalgarh that had remained inaccessible during the agitation due to roads there being dug up and roadblocks set up by the protestors. “We are now in touch with them [the agitators] and discussing matters with them,” Mr. Nigam said.

The agitation was launched by some tribal groups protesting against “police atrocities” on local people during raids to track down those responsible for the blast that narrowly missed the convoy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on November 2.

Mr. Bhattacharjee, who subsequently told the West Bengal Assembly that Maoists were behind the attack, had regretted the assault on villagers including women in the course of raids by the police in the Lalgarh area following the incident.

Knowledge-based education only weapon to recession, terrorism: Chief Minister

Kolkata, Dec 14, 2008: Economic recession and terrorism are the two major challenges before the world now and creative knowldge-based education is the only weapon to fight the two devils with, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in Kolkata on Sunday. Saying death and destruction do not win the day, Bhattacharjee felt what wins is man's creative spirit and for that education and quality teaching are the two imperatives a healthy society must have.
Quoting from Charles Dickens' 'Tale of Two Cities', the Chief Minister said, ''It is the best of times and it is the worst of times'' to describe the world situation now. Man can utilise it to his good or bad. Speaking at the Golden Jubille celebration of Dinabandhu Andrews College at Garia in the southern part of the city, he cited the example of China saying, "It is a country of 132 crore people - many more than ours - but it has presented itself as an example before the world because of its will to do good for the people.''He said that globalisation has divided the world into two halves - rich and poor - and economic meltdown has aggravated the situation. ''It is hard to guess where we are heading to.''
The Chief Minister also stressed on the need for vocational training so that all students can get a job and contribute towards the development of society. The college's Golden Jubille celebration committee has contributed has contributed Rs one lakh to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, Rs 50,000 to the Minority development Fund and Rs 50,000 to the Vidyasagar fund for construction of a hostel for women in Purulia.

Buddhadeb on quality of education



KOLKATA, Dec. 14, 2008: Chief Minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee while addressing the opening session of the annual conference of the All Bengal Teachers’ Association (ABTA) at Kamalgaji in Sonarpur today stressed on the importance of vocational training .


Although West Bengal has made rapid stride in the rate of literacy, the chief minister admitted that the academic standard of some of the schools of the state was not satisfactory. He drew the attention of the teachers to this drawback prevailing. He asked the teaching community to come forward in an endeavour of raising the academic standard of schools.


The students coming from economically challenged families should be helped as well, Mr Bhattacharjee said.“There are some good schools as well as schools where the teachers are found to be negligent. I cannot ask the teachers not to undertake private tuition, but the time has come when they must think about how to uplift the economically backward children,” he added

Calcutta HC directs WB govt to close down tanneries in Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 12: The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the West Bengal government to close down all tanneries in the metropolis by Wednesday in accordance with a Supreme Court order of 1997. A division bench comprising Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice S Banerjee directed the Kolkata Police Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police, South 24 Parganas, to assist the administration in closing down nearly 70 tanneries still operating in Tiljala and Tangra areas in east Kolkata.
The court-appointed special officer and senior counsel Jaideep Kar submitted his report after inspecting the localities. A leather complex was set up at Bantala in South 24 Parganas district to house all tanneries in the city some years ago to prevent pollution in residential areas. Petitioner Maqbool Ahmed, a resident of Tiljala, had claimed on December five that the 1997 order of Supreme Court to shift the tanneries to the leather complex had not been carried out. The petitioner had also annexed a letter by the chairman of the state Pollution Control Board of June 19 this year to the West Bengal chief secretary that the apex court order was being violated and several tanneries were yet to shift to the complex.
Advocate General Balai Roy submitted that despite the Supreme Court order to shift the tanneries to the leather complex at Bantala, around 70 of them were still operating by using domestic water and power connections illegally. After raids, they simply shifted to some other place in the locality and continued to function, he said.

JSW Steel gets coal reserves for West Bengal project

KOLKATA, 13 December, 2008: Steel manufacturer JSW Bengal Steel has been allotted three reserves in West Bengal to source coal for its 10-million-tonne steel plant project at Salboni in the state, a top official said here on Saturday.
"Hard coking coal has to be imported from Australia and China, and we will get soft coking coal from Kulti and Sitarampur reserves. From Ichhapur, we will be getting thermal coking coal," the company's joint managing director and chief executive Biswadeep Gupta said on the sidelines of a panel discussion organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.
At present, prospecting work is being carried out by the Geological Survey of India for these reserves. He said coal in these reserves contains high methane gas and water, making continuous mining a problem due to geological disturbances. Kulti and Sitarampur together have a reserve of 300 million tonnes of soft coking coal and Ichhapur has 110 million tonnes of thermal coking coal.
"We got one more reserve at Gourandih. Fifty percent of the total reserve there will be shared with Himachal-Emta," Gupta said, adding: "This reserve has approximately 100-120 million tonnes of thermal coal". Himachal-Emta is a joint venture between the Himachal Pradesh government and the Kolkata-based Eastern Mineral and Trading Agency (Emta).

‘Opposition in West Bengal irresponsible’

Improve infrastructure to attract FDI: Buddhadeb

KOLKATA, 13 December, 2008: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday said an “irresponsible Opposition was opposing everything for the sake of opposition and ultimately the people of the State will suffer.”

Presiding over the 69th annual session of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC), he said: “I am facing problems in land acquisition, as an irresponsible Opposition is opposing everything. But I assure you that we are in dialogue with the Opposition.”

Mr. Bhattacharjee said this in response to a comment by Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways K.H. Muniyappa, while inaugurating the session.

The Union Minister said land acquisition was proving to be a problem in the State. Projects started in 2001 could not be completed due to problem over land acquisition over a four or five km stretch. “I seek the support of the West Bengal government and people to complete roads for the country’s development.”

The Chief Minister said that in the current financial meltdown, infrastructure would perhaps be the only sector that would not be hit and he had been advised by the Reserve Bank of India Governor “not to miss this chance.”

“It is high time we improved infrastructure,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said, adding that unless India improved infrastructure, it would fail to attract foreign direct investments.

“It is through infrastructure that China has attracted FDI.” He exhorted the 2,000-strong gathering of delegates to discuss ways to improve road connectivity in India, in the backdrop of the global financial crisis to compete with China.

Noting that the United Progressive Alliance government was trying to complete the golden quadrilateral project started by the National Democratic Alliance government, he said it was important to connect sea and airports. Otherwise, international trade would suffer.

Mr. Muniyappa said the IRC was set up in 1934 as the premier body of highway engineers. To enable rural people, cyclists, pedestrians and tractor drivers to use the network, the Centre had approved the creation of service roads alongside the six and four-lane highways, especially where there was a concentration of rural people.

West Bengal’s first private airport in Bardhaman district to be operational by 2011


DURGAPUR: Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd's. (BAPL) first private airport in Bardhaman district in West Bengal is likely to be operational by end of 2011. According to a report in Projects Today, the project, which is a part of the USD 2.5 billion (approximately Rs 12,500 crore) Durgapur Aerotropolis, has got an approval from the West Bengal government and has also overcome the objections raised by Coal India Ltd. (CIL).
Besides the airport, the project also includes an industrial park, logistics hub, IT Park and a township. BAPL is the promoter of the Aerotropolis in association with Singapore's Changi International Airport. An agreement was signed in February this year for technical services and as operator of the proposed airport.

BAPL is likely to complete the acquisition of 2,362.84 acre for phase I by June 2009. The state government will be completing the land notification shortly. The phase I of the project involves an investment outlay of Rs 2,200 crore. The company has achieved financial closure for Rs 600 crore comprising part of phase I -the airport and land acquisition cost.

ADAIVASI YOUTH CLEAR ALL ROADBLOCKS PUT UP BY MAOISTS IN PURULIA-BANKURA

BHULABHEDA (WEST MIDNAPORE), 12 December, 2008(INN):The entire network of what are non-arterial links between the main roadways is now free of felled trees, ditches, and boulders. Traffic of all sorts’ moves freely. As we return from the red earth of Purulia via Bankura and onto Midnapore west, we see militant processions of adivasi youth, men and women, occasionally children in tow, the Red Flag fluttering in the chill of the first and late wintry breeze from the north-west, as they stride along boldly, arms swinging gaily, slogans emanating from the chapped lips, conviction of courage written all over their faces, along both sides of the roads. ‘We do not want the Jharkhandis and the Maobadis to ruin life for us anymore,’ is the general refrain. The awesomely large and cavernous kettledrums thudded out a thunderous resonance, and the horns sounded the timbre of the forest.

Entering Bhulabeda, I was quite thrilled to see another sight – a sight long, long overdue. Thousands upon thousands of adivasis -- and this time the vast crowd is a happy mix of tribals and non-tribals, of the villages and the townships – all united under the Red Banner. What the self-proclaimed Maoists and their in-closet friends and associates, and patrons in the corporate world should note is the chilling fact, for them and for persons of their ilk, here and abroad, the scorn and hatred the tribal-non-tribal rally-- I would not call it a joint rally, it was a peoples’ rally, vast and moving – exuded for the criminals and the assassins-- all the way. Somehow a feint sense emanating of a feeling of guilt and a sense of having been betrayed earlier all those decades could be felt in these old bones from the otherwise militant ambience around all the time as I alighted from the vehicle I have been travelling in and, in a second, mingled fadelessly yet seamlessly into the power and glory of the people’s march.

The rally culminated in a vast assemblage held under the aegis of the two very organisations that had been in the past bitterly misled and alienated from the mainstream of the struggles of the forest people by the Maoists and the Jharkhandis – the all-India Jakat Majhi-Marhwa association and the Bhumija Munda Kalyan Samity. The rally iterated in strong language and firm tone what has been going around the villages and the hamlets, the gunjes and the townships the last few weeks and months.

The likes of Jharkhandis and Maoists must not find any toehold in the red clay zones. They are not to cross over from the neighbouring districts to where they may continue if the people there so allow, doing the misdeeds of their uniquely anti-people sort. They must not try to communicate to the people this side of the state border in any way. They should not expect any safe haven awaiting them – rather the contrary. They should also come out with a public explanation why they killed so many people-- tribal or non-tribal is not of importance as a point of distinction, the ‘reason why’ is. Every speaker strongly emphasised the public confessional aspect, I did not fail to note despite the slight inadequate fluency in Bengali of the comrade who translated the Santhali for me.

The speakers also dwelt at length on the sensitive topic of destruction of the forest resources including the cutting down of boughs as this meant finis to the process of growth of tussar and resham varieties of silkworms. The speakers also appeared quite sheepishly apologetic in their own way about the felling of trees, some of which worth lakhs of rupees, for the purpose of blocking the roadways.

All of them were also in unison on two other issues: the western area of Bengal must undergo faster development, and the police must not enter the villages without the accompaniment of the Jakat leadership. They iterated that the myth that the Maoists had spread around about the Jakat being unwilling to have the authorities arrest and take into custody criminals was just that—a myth. The rally ended in a befitting way as torches were lit and the assemblage burst into a song with a touching refrain that sent a stab to the softest part of the human heart – kam, khai, emaa lem – roughly translated as ‘give us work please, so that we are able to go to sleep on full stomachs....’ .
by B. PRASANT