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Buddhadeb: Things not that bad in Paschim Medinipur

Special Correspondent

“I am not here to answer questions on law and order”

One of the most backward districts, Birbhum shares borders with Paschim Medinipur
NMDC is a public sector company under the Union Steel Ministry

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the situation in and around Paschim Medinipur was not that bad and industry could come up in the adjacent areas.

Answering a query on the law and order situation after the ten-day long tribal agitation around Lalgarh, he said: “I am not here to answer questions on law and order, but the situation is not that bad.”

He was speaking to the media on the occasion of signing two memorandum of understanding between the public sector National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and State government owned West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation for setting up a coal mine in Birbhum.

Important day

Mr. Bhattacharjee, who shared the dais with Union Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilizers Ram Vilas Paswan for the first time since the Salboni episode, said this was an important day for the State’s industrial development and it would not have been possible without the Union Minister’s help. NMDC is a public sector company under the Union Steel Ministry and Mr. Bhattacharjee hailed the public-public partnership.

IED blast

Mr. Paswan, however, was critical of the State administration which he felt had failed on November 2, 2008 when an IED blast on his convoy severely damaged one of his pilot vehicles and injured the policemen inside. They were still in hospital and one of them might never be able to use his splinter-hit limbs normally again.

“It was a total failure of the local high-level administration. Initially even the Chief Minister who had passed the same road minutes ahead of me, did not know what had happened — he was told that a high tension electrical wire had snapped on the pilot car,” Mr. Paswan told reporters.

The Union Minister, however, refused to comment on the law and order situation that was prevailing in the region following the police action against some of the local tribals.

Paswan’s assurance

He said that his Ministry would do whatever was possible to make the ‘chemical hub’ happen in West Bengal and the petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals industry region project would go the cabinet after being vetted by the high-power committee. He was all praise for the West Bengal Chief Minister, saying that he had helped revive many sick units in the State.

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