Mamata woos investors with simplified administrative procedures

There will be only one union from TMC to represent interest of workers to alley investor fears

Keeping her pre-electoral promises--on forcible land acquisition and special economic zone--intact, West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has made some significant changes to ease the process of doing business in the state.

The changes were conveyed by the Chief Minister at an interface with industrialists, 'The Next Level - Doing Business in West Bengal.'

Though not a government decision, the more significant one that will help industry is that the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party, has conveyed in clear terms that there will be only one union from the party to represent the interest of workers.

"Our Chief Minister has said that there will be one union for one industry," public health engineering minister, Subrata Mukherjee, said. Infighting in TMC had led to the rise of multiplicity of trade unions in factories and the real estate sector, which had become a major hurdle.

The other pillar of the ease of doing business happened to be smoothing the process of clearances. A single window 'Shilpa Sathi' has been created at the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) for all large industries.

"For 38 matters, no objection certificate is not required," Banerjee told industrialists.

"The process of getting trade licence, environmental clearance, fire clearance, building plan clearance, power connection, land mutation and conversion and various other matters had been simplified and would be delivered in a time-bound manner," she added.