State assures industrialists support for investment

As availability of land remains to be the biggest cause of concern for industrialists, West Bengal government on Tuesday assured investors of all possible assistance if they come up with definite investment proposal.

“There is no use sitting and harping on the issue of land. I invite those investors who are facing land problems. Come to us and we will look into your problems. We have land in our hands and we will arrange land for you. We have around 7,500 acres of industry sitting idle we are exploring ways to utilise them,” state Commerce and Industries minister Partha Chatterjee, who presided over a closed-door core committee meeting on industry involving various chambers of commerce and industry, said.

Most of the queries of the business community present in the meeting, were about land. There was also proposal from the investors to abolish the entry tax in the state. However, according to those, who attended the meeting Chatterjee was non-commital on the matter.

According to the state industry minister, the government has received investment proposals to the tune of Rs 1,03,000 crore in the past one year. “In all we have received 176 proposals of investment to the tune of Rs 1,03,000 crore till now. They already have the land that is why they have submitted the proposals. Land is not an issue,” he said.

Industry minister to meet Infosys delegates
Meanwhile, Chatterjee will be be meeting delegates from Information Technology (IT) major Infosys. The proposed project of the company has been in limbo after being denied the status of special economic zone (SEZ).

“We are very optimistic of getting investments in the IT sector. Other than Infosys there are many others who want to invest in the state. We will be meeting delegates from Infosys in the coming week,” the minister said.