The Hindu : Front Page : Salim Group undeterred by the violence in Nandigram

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Thursday, Jan 11, 2007
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Salim Group undeterred by the violence in Nandigram

Special Correspondent

"We are here... we will be continuing with all our projects"

— PHOTO: PTI

SHARING GRIEF: BJP leader Sushma Swaraj pacifies the mother of Biswajit Maitey who was killed in last weekend's violence, at Sonajpura in Nandigram on Wednesday.

Kolkata: The recent violence at Nandigram in West Bengal's Purbo Medinipur district will not deter the plans of the Indonesian Salim Group to set up a Special Economic Zone in the area. Neither will it get the conglomerate to change its mind on other projects it proposes to set up in other parts of the State.

"We are here... we will be continuing with all our projects [proposed in the State]", Prasoon Mukherjee, chief of Universal Success, a partner of the Salim Group, said here on Wednesday after a meeting with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Last weekend's violence at Nandigram, which claimed six lives, came in the wake of unfounded reports that the land acquisition process for the proposed SEZ was imminent.

When his attention was drawn to it, Mr. Mukherjee said: "As for the acquisition of land we leave it to the [State] Government. After the alignment work is over we begin our work."

"We shall wait"

On how long would the Salim Group wait for normality to return to Nandigram to start on the project, he said "we will wait till the land is available and then begin our work."

"It doesn't matter", he replied when asked how long they would wait.

The Salim Group also plans to set up infrastructure projects and constructions of roads and bridges in other parts of south Bengal.

Mr. Mukherjee said a delegation of industrialists from China was scheduled to visit the proposed SEZ site on January 19 or 20 "to see our location." There is talk of their participation in the SEZ once it is set up.

The situation at Nandigram is slowly returning to normal. Police camps have been set up in the area and the administration is taking steps to dispel fears of immediate land acquisition.

The fears were sparked by a notice issued by the Haldia Development Authority recently citing the mouzas where the proposed SEZ and two other major industrial projects are to come up.

The Chief Minister has directed the district authorities to ignore the notification and instructed them to assure the local people that no plans for land acquisition would be finalised without consulting panchayat representatives in the region.

Withdraw notices: Mamata

In a statement from the nursing home where she is convalescing after her 25-day hunger strike on the Singur issue, Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, demanded that the State Government withdraw all land acquisition notices, including that on Singur, through the legal process.

Spot assessment

A five-member BJP team, which included Sushma Swaraj, visited Nandigram for a spot assessment of the situation there. Ms. Swaraj demanded that the situation in the State, following the `atrocities' being committed on farmers, warranted the imposition of President's Rule and she would be reporting to her party leadership on her return to New Delhi.

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