Mamata demands prompt environmental clearance for tourism hub

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today expressed unhappiness over the delay by Centre in giving environmental clearance to the proposed eco-tourism project at Nayachar in East Midnapore district.
Demanding immediate clearance for the project, Mamata said that the Rs 268-crore project had the potential to generate employment for 10,000 people.
"We have proposed an eco-tourism project at Nayachar. But it is held up due to non-availability of environmental clearance from the Centre.
"We are trying for the project to be cleared immediately. There is a meeting scheduled for Sept. 20 in this regard," she said at a rally which followed her meeting with district officials here.

She is on a tour of the districts to gather first-hand knowledge about the progress of various state government projects.
The CM had earlier cited environmental factors to oppose a proposal for a chemical hub to be set up at Nayachar, mooted by former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

After coming to power in May, 2011, she proposed an eco-tourism project there instead.
She appealed to the Centre to immediately clear the project, saying it would give a fillip to industrial development in the region.
She also said that the state government would build the necessary infrastructure like housing, hospital and schools in the region for fishermen and their family.

She announced that the state government had received a grant and an assurance for Rs 1,300 crore from the Centre for the Ghatal Master plan. The project, set to be executed in the East and West Midnapur districts, is designed for drainage- cum-flood control.
She said that development projects should be taken up on a "war footing" in order for the people to believe that the government does not only make promises, but also translates them into action.
"If time is lost, everything is lost," she said.