Satadru Dutta's rise was swift and ambitious. But that journey took a dramatic nosedive on Saturday.
'The chief minister believes the poorest of the poor have the first right on government resources.'
On the eve of Durga Puja in October 2008, industrialist Ratan Tata announced that Tata Motors would withdraw from the nearly completed Nano car plant in Singur, attributing the decision to Mamata Banerjee's anti-land acquisition movement, which he claimed had derailed what was meant to be a "groundbreaking project" -- the world's cheapest car.
Sen suffered from chest pain, fluctuating blood pressure and uneasiness. According to the hospital sources, the minister is in the intensive critical care unit and examinations are being conducted on him.
It was the summer of 2006 (May 18). Writers' Building, then the state secretariat, was buzzing with journalists. The event marked the start of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's second term as chief minister. And in style, it got off with West Bengal bagging the small car plant, Nano.
In a major victory for Tatas, an arbitral tribunal has awarded Tata Motors a compensation of over Rs 766 crore for the losses incurred because of protests by Trinamool Congress that stalled its small car project at Singur in West Bengal. The tribunal asked the West Bengal government to pay Tata Motors the compensation, along with interest, according to a stock exchange filing by the Mumbai-based auto major on Monday. The company stated that the arbitral tribunal has asked the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) to pay the company Rs 766 crore compensation, in connection with losses incurred on its manufacturing site in Singur.
The political heat in West Bengal has been giving the rising mercury levels serious competition since the high court order.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, in a unanimous verdict, ruled that its 2014 verdict, which had struck down a provision of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 providing immunity to such officers in graft cases, will have retrospective effect.
After the Trinamool's overwhelming majority in the West Bengal assembly elections last year, the SSC scam has given fresh ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist. Ishita Ayan Dutt reports.
West Bengal's industry minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested in the SSC scam, should be removed immediately from his post and expelled from the Trinamool Congress, the party's state general secretary Kunal Ghosh demanded on Thursday.
India's largest private port operator Adani Ports and SEZ (APSEZ) Ltd has emerged as the highest bidder for the West Bengal government's greenfield deep-sea port project at Tajpur in a neck-to-neck fight with JSW Group, a source said on Friday. APSEZ and Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group were the only two entities that took part in the financial bid round, though there were more port and logistics majors who had expressed initial interest in the estimated Rs 7,000-crore project in Purba Medinipur district. "APSEZ is the highest bidder, offering a share of 0.25 per cent of gross revenue. "It was marginally higher than the second bidder who offered 0.23 per cent," a senior government official said, without wanting to be named.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted raids in three locations in and around Kolkata and again recovered large stacks of cash from a flat linked to Arpita Mukherjee, considered a close associate of arrested West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee.
Chatterjee, who was the state education minister when the scam took place, was arrested after around 26 hours of grilling in connection with the probe.
The words 'industry', 'industrial development', 'jobs', and 'employment' have been ringing with higher frequency since Mamata Banerjee stepped into her third term with landslide victory after a high-octane election last year. "Our government's next target is industrial development," the chief minister (CM) had been heard stating at different public meetings in the past few months - perhaps setting the tone for the sixth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) slated for later this month. Investor summits by any state are about intent, big numbers, and tall claims. Yet in competitive federalism, its importance as a marketing tool is undeniable.
In an important step towards setting up of Tata Motors' small car project at Singur, the West Bengal government signed the land lease agreement with the auto major on Friday.
The erstwhile Left Front government had earmarked 1000 acres at Singur for the Nano car plant but the acquisition of the multi-crop land from unwilling farmers was one of the reasons for its poll debacle after a long stint of 34 years in power.
Partha Chatterjee, former West Bengal industry minister, says it is a gross misconception that the government's policy is anti-industry.
C M Bachhawat, who has served as finance secretary in the Trinamool government earlier, will take over as the industry secretary from Alapan Bandopadhyay. Bachhawat will also be given additional responsibility as executive director of WBIDC.
The HPL board had reinstated its CDR committee to woo lenders.
Yet to achieve financial closure for project because of pending draft agreement.
Accompanied by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation managing director Subrata Gupta and local Trinamool MLA and school education minister Rabindranath Bhattacharjee, Bengal industry minister inspected the entire site and held a meeting with WBIDC officials at a camp office located within the premises.
Mamata Banerjee led TMC has released its election manifesto on Monday promising to bring all round development in West Bengal with special emphasis on industry and agriculture.
Making a submission in the court of Justice Saumitra Pal, Tata counsel Samaraditya Pal said that 997.11 acre leased to Tatas (lessee) by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (lessor) was not kept idle from the time of execution of the lease deed to the exit from the site by the company.
Mitra's stout and vociferous protest to what most see as Tata's meandering and even affectionate critique has taken people by surprise.
According to the lease agreement between Tata Motors and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, the lessor will have the option to terminate the lease if the land has not been used for three years or more, which will kick-in from October 2011. Tata Motors had pulled out of the Nano project in October 2008.
The Tatas had earlier stated that it could return the land if compensation was offered. Tata Motors last year shifted its small car Nano project from Singur to Sanand in Gujarat after protest by local farmers and political parties.
Arcil acquires non-performing loans from banks and financial institutions along with the underlying securities mortgaged or hypothecated by borrowers to the lenders.
Less than five months after Tata Motors relocated its Nano project from West Bengal to Gujarat over land issues, another Tata group company, Tata Metaliks, is reviewing its expansion project in the state on similar grounds.
Commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen and land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah say the figures are yet to be collated. West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation sources said land losers would only be known once the projects are awarded.
Both the warring sides claim they are keen to see industry come up in Singur -- the abandoned site of the Nano factory near Kolkata. But nine months after the decision to relocate the Nano factory, there has been no forward movement on setting up an industry in Singur.
The decision was reached after political consensus; sellers offered land-for-land deal.
At ground level, Trinamool leaders are quite reasonable and supportive. But TC is such a party where opinions of the grassroot-level people don't matter. The party has decided to oppose whatever development work we undertake, says
After deciding to withdraw the Nano project from Singur in West Bengal in October last year, Tata Motors has sought 10 months time from West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation to remove the equipment.
A vendor said that Tata Motors had sent a mail that a meeting with the West Bengal commerce and industry secretary was scheduled for Thursday. Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen was not available for comment. However, WBIDC's public relations agency said that Sen had not sent any mail to vendors.
The West Bengal government has handed over the first tranche of 533 acres to Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL) for setting up a new airport city project. This is to come up in the Durgapur-Asansol region, of Bardhaman district, at an estimated investment of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion).
Noting that the pace of industrial development could not be hindered by such vandalism, Bhattacharya said, "This is an indisciplined party and it has acted in an indisciplined manner."
Five months after Tata Motors shifted its Nano plant to Gujarat, another Tata company has decided to move a project out of West Bengal. Tata Metaliks has scrapped its 500,000-tonne billet project, proposed to be built with an investment of Rs 700-800 crore
Leading vendors of the Tata Motors' Nano project intend to set the ball rolling to return their land in the ancillary park area at Singur and said they aim to begin talks with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation on the issue immediately.
The Videocon group, which signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the West Bengal government for a Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) steel and power project last month, has directly negotiated with land losers near Asansol for 2,000 acres.
Underscoring the importance of industrialisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Tuesday its pace would have to be increased to match the flow of investment, both from domestic and foreign ones.
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