West Bengal business meet in Nov, govt plans campaign in multiple states

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) this year will be held from November 21 to 23, and her government, for its promotion, would undertake vigorous campaigns

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) this year will be held from November 21 to 23, and her government, for its promotion, would undertake vigorous campaigns in cities across the country.

Chairing the Industrial Promotional Board meeting at Nabanna Sabhaghar on Wednesday, Banerjee also stated that West Bengal, which has been a logistics hub, is also emerging as a data centre.

"We will be holding this year's BGBS from November 21-23. Vigorous campaigns and eight to nine padayatras will be held in different states to promote the event. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) will organise a meeting in Mumbai, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) can do so in Chennai," she said.

Several senior bureaucrats, ministers and industrialists were present at the meeting, while former finance minister Amit Mitra attended the session virtually.

"I will request Amit Mitra to take care of Delhi virtually and the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) will be in-charge of Karnataka. Industrialists Umesh Chowdhury, Harsh Neotia and Rudra Chatterjee can take care of meetings in Rajasthan," she said.

Underlining that 8,000 acres has been identified for acquisition, Banerjee, however, clarified that her government "will not forcibly acquire any land".

The chief minister said that Tata-Hitachi will soon shift its factory from Jamshedpur to Kharagpur.

She also announced that youth will be given Rs 5 lakh to start any business under Bhobishyot' credit card scheme.

Banerjee noted that the World Trade Center has decided to open a new branch office in the city.

Later in the day, Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi said that new policies are being framed to increase freshwater fish production in the state

He said that the government has recently conducted a survey and found out that the state has 12,800 reservoirs, he said.

"Of these, around 2,500 water bodies are owned by the government. Under a new policy, these water bodies will be leased out to interested private companies for fish farming," he said.

Dwivedi also stated that work to build a mega fishery hub in Nayachar is progressing at a fast pace.

"A fish processing system will be created under public-private programmes at an expense of Rs 125 crore," he said.