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Friday, Dec 07, 2007
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“Investment flow will not be hit”

Special Correspondent

More coming this year: Buddhadeb

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Kolkata: The West Bengal government had to abandon the plan to set up a chemical hub in Nandigram owing to opposition from a section of the local people but that will not affect flow of investments for the industry, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here on Thursday.

There had been a record investment of Rs.1.50 lakh crore this year and more was expected in the coming year, Mr. Bhattacharjee told the Assembly during discussions on an adjournment motion on the Nandigram issue moved by the Leader of the Opposition, Partha Chatterjee, and supported by the Congress.

The motion fell through as the Opposition members walked out of the House amid noisy scenes during voting. They cited dissatisfaction with the Chief Minister’s reply to the discussions as the reason for the walk-out.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said the chemical hub would now be set up at Nayachar Island.

There was uproar in the House when he said that certain local leaders of the Trinamool Congress in Nandigram were aware of the activities of the Maoists in the area. Neither did Mr. Bhattacharjee spare the Congress for its alleged role in aggravating the crisis in Nandigram, where it had forged links with the extremists as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress. The party should realise where it was heading to, he said.

P.M. apprised

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that he had apprised the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister of the situation in Nandigram.

The Chief Minister told the House that people who had been forced out of their homes in the face of violence over the past months were returning home. The administration was taking steps to ensure that relief reached them.

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