Kolkata, July 18 (IANS) The new industrial policy in West Bengal will be announced next month, most likely on Independence Day, August 15, state Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta said on Saturday.
Announcing this while addressing a seminar organised by the eastern regional council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Dasgupta said the new policy will focus on reviving the once‑vibrant manufacturing sector in West Bengal through a robust investment strategy, moving away from the previous Trinamool Congress government’s “non‑interference” approach to land acquisition for industry.
He said the policy will also emphasise utilisation of land held by closed industries for new development, with special financial incentives for the sector.
“Our prime target is to remove the negative impression among investors about West Bengal. This perception arose from developments such as the pull‑out of a major project from Singur in Hooghly district. We expect to announce the new policy by August 15, with specific focus on three areas – an overall land policy, incentive policy, and the use of land from closed industrial units for new entrepreneurs. We will make the best of the land‑pool available with the state government,” Dasgupta said.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had earlier hinted at the new land policy. He said the government would neither resort to the forceful acquisition of land “at gunpoint,” as during the Left Front regime, nor maintain a total distance from procuring land for industry, as under the previous Trinamool Congress regime.
“We have adopted a direct land purchase policy, under which the state government will directly purchase land from owners and hand it over for the project for which it is acquired,” Adhikari had said.
–IANS
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