The Hindu : Front Page : Buddhadeb reaffirms commitment to greater industrialisation

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Monday, Dec 17, 2007
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Buddhadeb reaffirms commitment to greater industrialisation

Special Correspondent

“We wanted Nandigram to become another Haldia”

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Kolkata: Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has reaffirmed his government’s commitment to bring about greater industrialisation in the State even as it consolidated successes in the agricultural sector.

“There is no room to retreat. We will have to keep going forward if we are not to betray the trust and support the people of the State have reposed in us… Will the future generations forgive us if we do not provide them with greater job opportunities?” he asked.

He was addressing the open session of the conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Hooghly district committee at Dankuni on Sunday.

“The work of the Opposition here is to say ‘no’ to every form of development. What sort of politics are they engaging in?” Mr. Bhattacharjee said, adding that such an attitude was not in evidence in other States at least when it came to the question of overall development.

“They are forging a mahajot [grand alliance] with parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party, holding the hands of the Congress which has joined hands with the Trinamool Congress that has in turn joined hands with the Maoists,” the Chief Minister said.

“The politics of terror — either in the name of religion or of naxalites does not work,” he added.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that if development was to be taken forward in the State “we cannot depend on agriculture alone.”

“To progress, we need industries and investment from both overseas as well as other parts of the country. We had wanted Nandigram to become another Haldia but the Opposition did not allow that…But that will not stop us from setting up a chemical hub which will come up at Nayachar Island,” the Chief Minister said.

On the agricultural situation in the country, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that it was grim.

“Over the past few years some thousands of farmers have committed suicide because of not getting remunerative prices for their produce, agricultural production had come down by two per cent and wheat has to be imported from the U.S.

“I will again raise the question of how a country can progress if farmers continue to commit suicide, at the National Development Council’s meeting on December 19.”

Earlier, Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front committee and secretary of the CPI(M)’s State Committee reiterated the need for all Left Front partners to be “responsible towards strengthening of Left Front unity.”

To take forward the Left Front’s agenda was not “the responsibility of the CPI(M) alone but that of all its constituents,” Mr. Bose said.

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