State working on land, data centre policies: West Bengal BJP chief

West Bengal's new BJP leadership has promised fresh land and data centre policies, along with incentives and tax breaks, to attract investment and revive industrial growth in the state

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Samik Bhattacharya said on Monday that the government in West Bengal would roll out land and data centre policies aimed at attracting investment and boosting job creation.

 

Addressing members of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, Bhattacharya said investors are ready to come to West Bengal. “They are waiting for the land policy; they are waiting for the new data centre policy. Several players from the semiconductor industry have already reached out to us and are ready to come.”

 

Under the leadership of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, the government is working hard to formulate a new data centre policy, which should bring new investment to the state, Bhattacharya added.

 

 

Earlier this month, the BJP swept to a historic victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections, ending the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule in the state.

 

Bhattacharya assured the gathering that within the first 100 days, the business community would feel the change with the new government in place.

 

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), which came to power in West Bengal in 2011 on the back of land agitation movements, had stayed away from acquiring land for industry — a key bottleneck for large investment projects.

 

Bhattacharya highlighted the need for a comprehensive land policy, noting that 82 per cent of the cultivated land is owned by small farmers. “We are working on it. We are already thinking about a land-for-land policy, which has been very successful in Punjab, Maharashtra and Haryana.”

 

Drawing a line between the party and the government, he clarified that the “modus operandi” of the government would be decided by the chief minister and the Council of Ministers. “We can give suggestions to the government. We cannot dictate terms and conditions. There should be a difference between the party and the government,” he said.

 

There is now an aspiration that economic activities will take place in West Bengal, he said.

 

“You are free to do business here,” he assured businessmen, adding that there will be “no obstruction, no hindrance, no extortion.”

 

Later, responding to queries from the media on incentives for industry, Bhattacharya said there will be incentives and tax holidays. The state and the Centre will work on this together, he said.

 

Incentives have long been a key demand of the business community. Last year, the TMC government finally put the issue to rest by scrapping industrial incentives — in place since 1993 — to redirect resources towards welfare schemes.