West Bengal CM condemns Mumbai terror strikes

Kolkata, Nov.28: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today condemned the terror attacks in Mumbai. He said it was a challenge for the people of the country to remain calm and resolute and to try to overcome the menace unitedly.

He also expressed a hope for a robust national response to terrorism and added that there was no doubt in his mind that foreign forces are behind this attacks. He offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the attacks. We are very much worried about what is happening in Mumbai. The flush out operation is still going on. Near about hundred people have been killed so far and more than 350 people were injured, including policemen and foreigners,” said the Chief Minister.

“It is a horrible incident. It is a time to forget political rivalries and people should stand up unitedly to fight with the terrorism and its the need of the hour.We must take oath against the terrorism. These attacks had external linkages and I have no doubt. I offer my condolence to the people who have lost their lives. Let us take an oath against the terrorism, he said.

Alert in West Bengal after terrorist attack in Mumbai

KOLKATA, November 27, 2008 :An alert was sounded on Wednesday night across West Bengal, including the eastern metropolis in the wake of terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Checking at entry points in the metropolis have been intensified and additional forces posted in vulnerable areas as a precautionary measure, city Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty told a news agency.

He said extra police personnel have been deployed in front of railway stations, big hotels, government offices and vital installations."We are keeping watch on the situation in Mumbai and have kept our forces alert here," he said.

Meanwhile, security has also been strengthened at the Sealdah, Howrah and Kolkata stations and Railway police asked to be vigilant in both Eastern and Southeastern Railways.

Ennore Coke plans Rs 1,000-cr project

Chennai, Nov. 27: Ennore Coke Ltd, whose 130,000-tonne coke plant at Haldia began operations just a few months ago, is preparing a plan to put up a 1 million-tonne plant that may require over Rs 1,000-crore of investments.

Ennore Coke, listed on the BSE, is an associate company of Shriram EPC Ltd, part of the Chennai-based Shriram group, which has a 32 per cent stake in the company. It produces coke, used in the conversion of ores into metals, from coking coal that comes from mines. Coke is a key raw material in steel production.

Mr T. Shivaraman, Managing Director, Shriram EPC, told Business Line that to put up the project, it is imperative to either have possession of coking coal mines or have a company that has the mines as a partner. Depending upon how things pan out, the new project may be put up either by Ennore Coke itself or through a joint venture, he said.

Today, Ennore Coke has 410,000 tonnes of capacity under its command, half of which is through an arrangement with a company called Durgapur Projects Ltd. Ennore Coke outsources coke manufacture to Durgapur Projects. In addition, Ennore Coke recently acquired an 80,000 tonne coke plant from Wellman Incandescent, in West Bengal, for a consideration of Rs 30 crore.

The rest of the capacity comes from the newly commissioned plant at Haldia that has a 12 MW thermal power plant that produces power from waste heat from the coke plant.

The current year is the company’s first full year of operations. For the half year ended September 30, Ennore Coke achieved a turnover of Rs 20 crore and made a net profit of Rs 22 lakh.

The current price of coke is about $500 a tonne. Assuming prices remain unchanged and capacity utilisation is full, Ennore Coke could potentially achieve a turnover of Rs 900 crore in 2009-10.

Asked if work on the proposed 1 million-tonne project could begin at least by 2010-11, Mr Shivaraman said, “we are pushing for starting the next year itself.”

Govt ‘unhappy’ with Dunlop stand, no loan cushion for factory

Kolkata, 26 Nov., 2008 : The situation at Dunlop India took a new turn when it emerged that the company may not receive Rs 100 crore loan, which it has asked from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to resume production at its Sahagunj factory.

“No state government provides working capital to any factory. Merely because you could not get it from banks, you cannot rush to the government. If we give money to Dunlop, then other companies facing financial crunch will also approach us,” a highly-placed source at the Writers’ Buildings told The newspersons.

Labour Minister Mrinal Banerjee tried to organise a tripartite meeting between the management, trade unions and the state government on Tuesday. But with Dunlop chairman Pawan Ruia taking an unflinching stand on suspending the production, the meeting failed to take off.

“We told Ruia to modify the draft he gave us, where he used the phrase ‘suspension of production’ at Dunlop. He refused to change the words and hence the meeting could not take place,” said Banerjee.

According to labour department officials, the government can intervene only in cases such as lock-out, lay-off, suspension of work and retrenchment of work. But since Ruia stuck to the phrase ‘suspension of production’, the government washed its hands of Dunlop.

Government officials also said Ruia refused to budge from his demand that trade unions sign the agreement accepting Rs 2,000 as subsistence allowance for each worker.

On Tuesday, the Dunlop chief also met Subesh Das, Principal Secretary to the chief minister, and gave him a letter requesting for the loan of Rs 100 crore and sales tax exemption. “We have given the letter to the CM’s secretary. We had to suspend the production because of lack of working capital,” said Ruia.

Representatives of two trade unions owing allegiance to Centre of Indian Trade Unions and Indian National Trade Union Congress met the labour minister and demanded that the government bring Dunlop to the negotiating table.

“Ruia has lost his credibility. If he cannot mobilise Rs 70 crore to run the factory, why did he take up the unit,” Pramatesh Sen, state general secretary of INTUC, said.

Througout the day, the union leaders kept waiting at the Writers’ Buildings for a tripartite meeting. Finally in the evening they were told to go home.

Ex-CPI MLA found guilty of taking bribe

KOLKATA, 26 Nov, 2008: An Assembly committee has found former CPI legislator Sheikh Illias Mahammad guilty of accepting money from the representatives of a fake NGO. The report was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday by committee chairman Gyan Singh Sohanpal.

"The committee is of the view that there is reason to believe that the member had accepted money/bundle of notes from the reporters of NE Bangla channel, posing as representatives of an NGO," the report said.

Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, however, said since Mahammad had already resigned as an MLA, there was nothing more the House could do. Following the sting operation by the TV channel, Trinamool Congress moved a motion of breach of privilege and contempt of the House against Mahammad, the MLA from Nandigram.

He was shown accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a reporter posing as an NGO worker. Mahammad was also shown issuing a certificate to the NGO.

First monorail to come up in Kolkata

Kolkata, November 26, 2008: Project today reported that Andromeda Technologies is planning to set up India's first monorail in Kolkata at a total outlay of INR 1,200 crore.

As per report, it has received permission from the West Bengal government to start a monorail that will cover a stretch of 20 kilometers from Budge Budge to Taratala. Construction work is likely to begin by March 2009 and is scheduled to be completed by 2011.

The monorail, which will have four coaches, each with its own electric generator and the capacity to accommodate 150 passengers will be based on hybrid technology.Of the total funds, INR 1,000 crore will come through debts from non resident Indians and INR 200 crore the equity component is expected by the end December 2008 from a foreign partner.

Derap AG and Helbing Tecknik AG of Switzerland are the technical partners of Andromeda in this monorail venture.The first 6 to 12 coaches of the monorail will come from Germany, after these, coaches will be made in India. The company is in talks with Titagarh Wagons and Texmaco for manufacturing the coach.

Bangladesh and other parts of India, such as Delhi, Pune, Patna, Bhubaneswar and Guwahati have also envinced their interest in setting up the monorail system.

SBI targets 30% growth in advances to Bengal circle SMEs

Kolkata, Nov 24: State Bank of India, Bengal circle, covering West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, is eyeing a growth rate of more than 30% in the advances to the small and medium enterprises sector even as it falls short of the target till October 2008.

"We are looking at a growth rate of at least 30% during the period," said Jayanta K Sinha, chief general manager of the circle.

Advances to the SME sector to October 31, 2008, were at Rs 8,270 crore against Rs 7,200 crore for the same period the previous fiscal.

"We are a little short of our target for the period. But I think we can cover it by the end of this fiscal," he said.

"We have a target of increasing the advances to SMEs by Rs 2,600 crore by end of this fiscal," Sinha said. He was present at a seminar-cum-SME customer meet in the city on Monday.

"This is a seasonal phenomenon. Credit offtake increases during December-January each year," Sinha said.

According to him, some of the entrepreneurs might be waiting for the interest rate to soften.

For the bank, advances to the sector across India till October 2008 stood at Rs 1.93 lakh crore, against Rs 1.82 lakh crore disbursed in the same period last fiscal.

Bengali literature still has bright prospects -- Sunil Gangopadhyay

Eminent Indian poet and litterateur Sunil Gangopadhyay said that Bengali literature still has bright prospects, as the readership in West Bengal and Bangladesh is sizeable and growing.He made the remark while talking to a BSS correspondent on the concluding day of the three-day 'Sunil Mela' that ended on November 23.Sunil literature Practice and Research Centre organised the 'mela ' (fair) marking the 75th birth anniversary of the poet at his ancestral home at Purba Maijpara village under Kalkini Upazila. Sunil was accompanied by his wife Swati Gangopadhyay, elder brother Anil Gangopadhyay and daughter Konika Gangopadhyay.A total of 20 stalls displaying books written by Sunil at the fair, turned into a festival with the presence of poets, litterateurs, artistes and bookworms, among others. Other attractions of the fair included live performances of 'jari' and 'shari' songs.

A library and a healthcare centre, named after him, are being set up at Sunil's ancestral home. Sunil Gangopadhyay was born on September 7, 1934 in Faridpur. He obtained his Master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta in 1954.

He was associated with the Ananda Bazar group, a major newspaper-publishing house in Kolkata, for many years. He is now the president of Sahitya Academy after serving as its vice-president for five years.

An author of more than 200 books, Sunil is widely regarded as one of the most prolific writers having excelled in different genres, but he proudly declares that poetry is his "first love."

He was the founder-editor of "Krittibas," a poetry magazine that became a platform for the new generation of poets, experimenting with many new forms in poetic themes, rhythms, and words.

LINC PEN: manufacturing capacity strengthened half million

KOLKATA, 22ND NOV: Amidst the recessionary markets where the writing instrument industry is growing at about 8% to 9%, Kolkata-based Linc Pen and Plastics, foresees 15% sales growth for the current financial year.

The manufacturing capacity of the company had also strengthened from 1.5 million pens a day to 2 million pens a day with an additional export oriented unit (EOU) at Falta in West Bengal.The company has three manufacturing facilities in India with a production capacity of two million pens per day. Two of the units are in West Bengal and the other is in Delhi. Linc currently exports pens to South America, the UK, the US and the West Asia.

Deepak Jalan, managing director, Linc pointed out that the writing instrument industry was roughly pegged at Rs 21 billion of which the branded segment was worth about Rs 16 billion and project a more than 5% growth in the market share by 2010 from its current share of 10%.

He added that Linc was also focused on overseas markets such as US, UK, South America, West Asia and neighboring countries such as Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh and its export earnings had increased from Rs 260 million in 2007 to Rs 380 million in 2008.

The manufacturing capacity of the company had also strengthened from 1.5 million pens a day to 2 million pens a day with an additional export oriented unit (EOU) at Falta in West Bengal.

Shares of the company gained Rs 1.25 or 6.93%, to trade at Rs 19.30. The total volume of shares traded was 5,865 at the BSE (10:14. a.m., Wednesday).

One CPI(M) supporter killed by Trinamool

Bheramari (Birbhum), 21 November,2008: A Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M) supporter was killed at Bheramari village in Birbhum district of West Bengal on Friday in a feud over a plot of a cultivable land.

The plot is said to be belonging to a Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporter, who was originally a CPI (M) supporter and recently joined the TMC. This led to a confrontation between CPI (M) and TMC supporters. Later, around 500-armed TMC supporters chased the CPI (M) activists, which triggered a violent clash between the two groups, in which one Mukhter Seikh (38), a CPI (M) supporter, was killed and several others were injured.

A large contingent of police force rushed to the spot to control the situation. But the tension is simmering in the village and local people are apprehending violent political backlash.

Bengal to focus on developing small, medium towns

KOLKATA, 21th November, 2008: The West Bengal Government has decided to accord top priority to the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to benefit more people with urban li festyle.

Announcing this after a review meeting of JNNURM, convened by the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the State's Urban Development Minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya said that the Chief Minister would soon urge the Union Urban Development Minister, M r S. Jaipal Reddy, to divert at least Rs 500 crore for UIDSSMT from allocation for upgrading small and medium towns.

While Rs 200 crore had already been allocated for developing slums, the Centre has been urged to divert another Rs 200 crore from JNNURM. Mr Bhattacharya said that under JNNURM Rs 5,700 crore had already been spent since its launch in 2005 through 197 pr ojects sanctioned, of which Centre contributed Rs 2,782 crore and the rest was contributed by the State Government.
Price hike resulted in cost overrun of the projects forcing the State Government to spend Rs 871 crore so far and this would shoot up to Rs 1,200 crore by 2012 when the JNNURM programme would end.

The Chief Minister underscored areas like providing urban home for the poor, development of slums, besides developing drainage and sewerage system, while a decision has been taken for securing Rs 1.900 crore loan from the Asian Development Bank.

Of this 35 per cent would be provided by the State Government as matching grant. In next four years of the tenure of JNNURM, the State Government would set off projects worth Rs 4,500 crore, the Minister said adding that Rs 500 crore of it would be spent for developing small and medium towns. (PTI)

China seeks reopening of trade route to India

Kolkata:19 November-China is keen on reopening the Steelwell Road that runs from Lydo in Assam to Yunnan province of China via Myanmar. “The Chinese government will send a formal proposal to its Indian counterpart,” said Li Jiashou, chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), Yunnan Sub-council.

He was speaking during a ceremony to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Indian Chamber of Commerce and CCPIT, Yunnan province on Wednesday. The MoU was signed to promote economic cooperation between Yunnan and the eastern regions of India within the framework of the bilateral agreements between the two countries. The MoU also stipulates provisions for exchange of economic data and information between eastern India and Yunnan.

“The reopening of the road will facilitate more trade between these regions of the two countries. The Indian government has already widened the road on the Indian side and our government has built an expressway on our side. We have already talked to Myanmar through which 400 km of the road runs,” the Chinese official said.

Land a stumbling block on way to industrialisation, says Industries Secy.

Kolkata: November 19- Even as West Bengal is receiving a lot of investment proposals, procurement of land is proving to be a big hurdle in implementing these projects. Sabyasachi Sen, Principal Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries, on Wednesday said responding to questions at Biz Bridge, a workshop organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to showcase the eastern region.

“Land procurement is becoming a major hurdle in the industrialisation process. States like Gujarat do not face this kind of problem because in the ‘50s and ‘60s the Gujarat government bought lots of land near the highways. But this did not happen here,” Sen said.

He said the state government is trying to simplify the procedure for facilitating faster sanction of business proposals. “At present there are 20 to 25 windows and we want to cut down the number to six to seven so that investment proposals are processed faster,” Sen added.

He also said the government wants to set up a project to store water. “We will take the help of the Jadavpur University to conduct a feasibility study of this project,” he said.

Sen said the state government was working on a new incentive scheme for industries that will focus on employment generation. “For instance, If a person gets incentive to the tune of Rs 100, 50 per cent will be for the volume of investment he is making and 50 per cent for the number of employments it will generate. We are going to take the help of the regional providend fund commissioner in this regard,” Sen added.

Biotechnology park on anvil in Bengal

Kolkata: November 19 (UNI)- West Bengal Principal Secretary for Commerce and Industry Sabyasachi Sen today said a bio-technology park would come up in the state in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.

Speaking on the sidelines of ''Biz Bridge'', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), Dr Sen said the project would come up on a land area of 100 acre at Kharagpur, which had already been acquired. However, he declined to quote any timeframe for its completion, saying it would be finalised only after the bidding process would be over.

According to him, the state would attract an investment to the tune of Rs 1,00,000 crore in the next five-six years in the iron and steel sector. Earlier, delivering the inaugural address, the principal secretary also said efforts were on to bring the automobile sector into the focus of the state.

''We want West Bengal to be an automobile-hub in line with Gurgaon and Pune. We are ready to extend our support. Foreign tie-ups are also welcome,'' Dr Sen said.

Ess Dee & Vedanta Group will infuse Rs 261 crore in ailing India Foils

Kolkata: 20 November, 2008-Ess Dee Aluminium Ltd, a leading manufacturer and supplier of Aluminium foil-based flexible packaging laminate products, has acquired nearly 90 per cent stake, valued at around Rs130 crore, in Kolkata-based aluminium foils company, India Foils, which is part of the Vedanta group.

"Ess Dee Aluminium and Vedanta group entity Madras Aluminium Company (Malco) have joined hands to revive India Foils. As a part of the rehabilitation plan, we both partners will infuse about Rs261 crore in India Foils in the form of equity and preferential shares, to repay all existing lenders of IFL, thus making it debt-free," Ess Dee chairman and managing director Sudip Dutta said at a media briefing.

Ess Dee and Vedanta will jointly revive the sick company, India Foils in a rehabilitation scheme approved by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

Ess Dee will hold around 90 per cent stake and the remaining will be owned by Vedanta's Madras Aluminium Co. The two will plan to make IFL debt free by repaying all its debts with a joint infusion of Rs261 crore, in the form of equity and preference shares.

Dutta, said that for 2008-09, the company will keep growth levels to the same as in the last quarter, and the IFL acquisition will boost the company's rolling capacity from the existing 18,000 tonnes to 37,000 tonnes within a year. An addition 12,000 tonnes capacity will be created by March 2009 and the rest by December next.

Dutta said the additional capacity will also help Ess Dee as it was planning to launch innovative and new anti-counterfeit packaging products, especially aimed at the pharma industry.These new products could not be launched earlier due to lack of capacity, although many pharma companies had shown keen interest in buying the anti-counterfeit packaging.

IFL which was manufacturing, processing and selling aluminium foil and foil-based products has three manufacturing plants in West Bengal and has a foil rolling capacity of 19,000 tonnes, out of which two are shut. The company has a good front-end conversion capacity that enables it to offer value-added products to its customers. With the funds, Ess Dee will now restart two units in the next five months and the third unit some time later.

"This acquisition will also place Ess Dee on track towards achieving self sufficiency in raw material requirements once the foil stock plant at Hoera is restarted. Additions to IFL's manufacturing facilities in West Bengal would raise strength to Ess Dee's successful hub-and-spoke model of manufacturing and printing foil-based products with plants spread across the country," Dutta said.

One of the main reasons for IFL declaring sick in 2006 was its location, as it did not have manufacturing facilities outside West Bengal, which hampered fast delivery as also it made a substantial investment in latest technology when the industry was not prepared to absorb it.
''IFL lost out by location. Now Ess Dee will provide the spoke and IFL the hub, as together our facilities are located at strategic places, this is a primary synergy through the acquisition,'' Debdeep Bhattacharya, director of Ess Dee, said.Vedanta director Tarun Jain said his company was exiting IFL because it wanted to focus on its core business of mining.

With 37,000 tonnes manufacturing capacity in 8 sophisticated plants spread across India and with the addition of 3 plants of IFL, Ess Dee will be India's largest pharmaceutical foil manufacturing company.

Three CPI(M) leaders injured in JKP backed armed miscreants attack

BANKURA (WB), 20 November,2008: Three CPI(M) leaders were injured when Jharkhand party-Trinamool-Maoist backed armed miscreants attacked them with bows and arrows in West Bengal's Bankura district, police sources said today.

The three CPI(M) leaders - Ranjit Hembran, a former pachayat samiti sabhapati and Ramu Duley and Tulu Hembran, zonal committee leaders were on their way back home to Sarulia when they were struck by arrows at Sarenga area last evening, Superintendent of Police Vishal Garg said.

The three have been admitted to hospital, sources added. Tribal organisations in Bankura district had yesterday obstructed Bankura-Midnapore state highway by placing tree trunks on the road to protest alleged police excesses meted out to tribal in Lalgarh area of neighbouring West Midnapore district.

The three CPI(M) leaders were passing through the area where the tribal had but up road blockade when they were attacked, sources added.

DPT, Hepatitis-B shots in short supply

KOLKATA, 19 November, 2008: Bengal has been severely hit by a shortage of DPT and Hepatitis-B vaccines. The countrywide shortage for the past six months has upset Universal Immunisation Programmes (UIP) in various states, including West Bengal.

In Kolkata, more than 6,00,000 children, from newborns to the age of five, are under risk. These children, a section of whom are slum-dwellers , cannot afford to buy these vaccines in the open market as these are costly. DPT and Hepatitis-B are priced between Rs 600 and Rs 1,000 but are not readily available for bulk supply.

Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss banned the manufacture of these vaccines six months ago on grounds of 'poor quality control' . There are only three state-run units that manufacture them - Pasteur Institute in Coonoor, the BCG Laboratory in Chennai and Central Research Institute in Kasauli. Since then, the state health department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation authorities have been urging the Union health minister to resume supply of these vital vaccines.

Even CPM Politburo member Brinda Karat took up the matter with Rajyasabha so that West Bengal could again receive its normal supply of vaccines. KMC doctors expressed apprehension that for want of these vaccines , the entire immunisation programme would get marred. "If we fail to supply these vaccines, particularly the hepatitis vaccine, enteric diseases will spread fast and could assume epidemic proportions ," a KMC health official said on Tuesday.

However, so far, there has been a lukewarm response from the Centre . According to a senior KMC health department official, the Centre had failed to keep its promise. "The Centre had assured us that the supply of DPT and Hepatitis-B vaccines would be normalised from October this year. However, we have received a very negligible quantity of these vaccines till date," the chief municipal health officer Debdwaipayan Chattopadhyay said on Tuesday.

Till October 27, West Bengal alone reported a shortage of a whopping 88.49 % in DPT vaccines and 63.64 % in Hepatitis B vaccines . Though DPT doses were sent to the state earlier this month, the shortage, continued to be severe, said a KMC doctor associated with the immunisation programme. "It would also appear that the DPT and DT programmes are virtually scrapped, at least in these states." he said.

Dunlop workers seek government intervention

SAHAGANJ(Hooghly), 19th November, 2008: Agitated workers of the Dunlop factory at Sahaganj in West Bengal protested at the gates of the unit on Tuesday and demanded its reopening.

On Monday, the Pawan Ruia Group that owns Dunlop cited the global economic meltdown; a lack of demand and a funds crunch and suspended production, offering workers Rs 2000 per month till the factory reopens. But the workers don't believe any of it - neither the reason for suspending work nor the offer of allowance. They want the factory back on stream and all their long-pending dues. Mrityunjay Pandey a worker at Dunlop, said, “The management is talking about the economy. But the economy has been down only for the last two months. They are just pretending, saying they will get money from here or there. But no one will give them any.

Harish Singh another worker said, “We have no faith in this management. Whatever agreement is to be made must be made in front of the Chief Minister or the Industry Minister. We will accept only those commitments.”

The leaders of the CITU and INTUC unions who had been talking to the management were incommunicado and demanding government intervention. Meanwhile there is evident gloom among the labourers. Since the Ruia group took over Dunlop two years ago, they had received some respite from the instability. But now the uncertainties seem to be back. Shakli Devi, wife of a Dunlop employee, said, “How will I run my family. There’s no work and no salary. How will I manage? As it is, we suffered for ten years. Now the trouble is back.”

It is certain that for the moment at least, the story of the revival of Dunlop India is truly over.With it industrialization in West Bengal has received another blow. Also a very, very uncertain future faces the 1202 workers who depended on Dunlop India for a livelihood.

NMDC to invest Rs. 1,000 cr. in Birbhum coal project

MINING TOGETHER: Ram Vilas Paswan (left), Union Minister of Chemicals, Fertilizer and Steel, and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal Chief Minister, exchange documents after signing an MoU between NMDC and WBMDTC in Kolkata on Tuesday.

KOLKATA,19th November: Navratna public sector National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) will initially invest Rs. 1,000 crore to develop a coal mining project in Birbhum district in West Bengal, Chairman and Managing Director Rana Som said.

Mr. Som was here on the occasion of signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation (WBMDTC) for starting coal mining activities and supplying iron ore and bauxite.

He said the Deocha-Pachami coal block in West Bengal was one of the largest coal blocks in India and NMDC proposed to make its second foray in coal mining with this virgin block. The initial investment would go mainly towards land acquisition and purchase of heavy earth moving machinery. NMDC already had two coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh. The Birbhum block was yet to be allotted. He indicated that this mine would need technology and NMDC might rope in a foreign partner if it so wanted. Spread over a 9.7-sq. kilometre, the mine had a 2-billion tonne reserve of thermal coal and was deep mine. The West Bengal Power Development Corporation would have a 10-per cent stake in this venture, while the WBMDTC would hold 40 per cent of the equity with NMDC holding 50 per cent and having the right to divest 15 per cent to bring in another partner.

West Bengal Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee said that with a proposed capacity of 10,000 MW, the state utilities would need one lakh tonnes of coal a day soon. The project would help the power sector.

The MoU paves the way for the geological exploration of the deposit to establish the project’s commercial viability, after which the joint venture would be incorporated to carry forward the project. Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan, who was present while the MoU was signed, said the project will have an initial investment of Rs 1,000 crore. Other dignitaries present included Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Minister for Commerce and Industries Nirupam Sen.

The NDMC, India’s single largest iron ore producer, has also signed another agreement with the state government by which it will make a certain amount of iron ore available to the steel manufacturing sector of the state.

During the function, the chief minister thanked Paswan for his role in getting a number of the state’s projects cleared. “He has helped in the revival of IISCO factory at Burnpur with Central funding of Rs 13,000 crore. He is also getting Rs 5,500 crore for the Durgapur Steel factory and trying to clear the PCPIR project as early as possible. We are all thankful to him,” Bhattacharjee said.

According to Paswan, PCPIR project will receive the Central nod by this year. “The proposal will be placed in the high-powered committee comprising secretaries of different Union ministries. Then it will directly come to the Cabinet for clearance,” he added.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said industrial progress was difficult without mineral supplies and a national policy was needed for dispersing resources evenly throughout the country.

West Bengal seeks greater tax pie from Centre

Kolkata, November 18: The West Bengal government has requested the Centre to increase its share in the taxes collected from the states from 30.5 per cent to 50 per cent.

In a meeting with the chairman of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, Vijay Kelkar, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee demanded hat the scope of Centrally- sponsored schemes be redefined and states be given larger scope to implement such schemes. Kelkar is in Kolkata to hold meetings with representatives of the state government.

“Under the Indian constitution, most of the developmental works have to be carried out by the state. But we have limited resources. We have demanded that the entire financial relations between the Centre and the states should be restructured. We also demanded that states should be given the right to impose service tax,” said state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta.

Kelkar urged the state government to go in for better fiscal management and mobilise resources. He pointed out that the growth rate of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of West Bengal was 10.5 per cent, while the national average was 11.29 per cent.