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| Pranab fails to push big-ticket projects in Bengal |
| Namrata Acharya / Kolkata Aug 08, 2010, 00:28 IST |
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Tamil Nadu was much luckier during P Chidambaram’s tenure as FM.
 It is well known that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s weekends are reserved for flagging off new trains in West Bengal, but Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visits to his home state are not leisurely either.
Like Banerjee, Mukherjee has been shuttling between New Delhi and Kolkata ever since he became the finance minister in 2009, with an eye on developments in West Bengal, political and otherwise.
Recently, the Centre sanctioned Rs 103 crore for West Bengal to initiate a second green revolution in the state, a scheme announced by the finance minister in his Budget speech, confirmed state Agriculture Minister Naren De. In fact, West Bengal got the lion’s share of the Rs 400-crore central fund for the second green revolution, which will also include Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Orissa.
So much is the camaraderie between the Left ministers and Pranab Mukherjee that the finance minister has emerged as the favourite points person. All proposals for the state, irrespective of departments, are routed through the Union finance ministry.
“After Pranab Mukherjee has become the finance minister, he has helped getting projects sanctioned quickly. Ever since he became the finance minister, Bengal got a handloom mega-cluster in Murshidabad, as well as tourism projects and food parks,” said West Bengal Tourism Minister Manab Mukherjee.
Quite a few projects found mention in his Budget speech. Bank protection works in the river Bhagirathi and Ganga-Padma in parts of Murshidabad and Nadia districts under a centrally-sponsored scheme, flood management programmes in East and West Midnapore districts, along with development of an alternative port at Sagar island in the state, were some of them.
Discussions on the long-pending petroleum chemicals and petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR) project at Nayachar, apart from central assistance in state highway and road projects have also been held with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
His constituency, Jangipur, saw 20 new bank branches. Of the 120 new branches opened in West Bengal during 2008-09, only two were in un-banked areas, according to Reserve bank of India data.
However, in spite of Mukherjee’s clout, Bengal has been bereft of big-ticket industrial projects. Tamil Nadu was much luckier during P Chidambaram’s tenure as finance minister.
In 2008, construction major Larsen & Toubro and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation signed a joint venture agreement to set up an integrated shipyard complex and port facility near Chennai, at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore. In his 2008-09 Budget speech, Chidambaram announced setting up a desalination plant in Chennai for about Rs 300 crore. A year ago (2007-08), Tamil Nadu had signed a loan agreement for Rs 2,182 crore for restoration of 5,763 water bodies.
In his earlier stint as the finance minister (1996-1998), Chidambaram had helped set up Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) in Chennai. In 2005, IDFC became a public company after listing its shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.
In terms of bank branches too, Chidambaram, beat Pranab Mukherjee hollow. More than 40 bank branches were opened in his constituency, Sivaganga. However, very few branches were opened in unbanked areas in Tamil Nadu during his regime also.
If one goes back further to the NDA regime, the home state of then finance minister Yashwant Sinha — Bihar — hardly found any favour. Unlike, Chidambaram and Mukherjee, Sinha was not known for opening bank branches in his constituency, Hazaribagh (now in Jharkhand). Also Bihar did not see any major industrial project during his tenure as finance minister in 1998-2002. During the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Sinha was defeated from the Hazaribagh constituency.
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