Kolkata, March 13 Hardeep Singh Puri, the Minister of State (Independent charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs, on Wednesday said that the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government does not have the basic idea on what is required to be done to attract investments to the state.
The Minister was in Kolkata to attend the Viksit Bharat Ambassadors event.
During an interaction with IANS, Hardeep Singh Puri said that it is also high time for the people of West Bengal to realise what they need to do so that real economic progress is achieved.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that 'Viksit Bharat' will never be complete without achieving 'Viksit Bengal'. He was absolutely right, since the development of the entire nation is linked to the development of individual states. But to achieve 'Viksit Bengal', a dynamic policy is required to attract investments. Otherwise, other states will gain out of the loss of Bengal, as had been happening where the proposed investment in West Bengal shifted to any other state," the Minister told IANS.
He said that the land policy of the West Bengal government, where there will be direct state intervention for acquiring land for industrial or even infrastructure-related projects, is a major drawback for the state in achieving industrial and economic progress.
According to him, the land hurdles are not just creating barriers for projects by industries but also for important infrastructure projects.
The policy of the West Bengal government regarding denial of fresh permission for special economic zones, as pointed out by Hardeep Singh Puri, is yet another hurdle, especially for the Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) sector.
"What is the point in sticking to this particular policy for projects requiring small plots of land of around 40 acres?" the Minister questioned.
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