Bengal LF Govt Sets Up Another Industrial Cluster In Kolkata

 B Prasant

THE Bengal Left Front government has for some time been in pursuit of schemes to revive industries in the effort to accelerate industrial development in the state.  A scheme has been conceptualised as a shilpa taluka or industrial clusters in the city of Kolkata and been implemented.  The latest such taluka to come up is located at Tangra in eastern suburban Kolkata. 

Set up on land belonging to closed industrial units, the talukas have seen the growth of multiple industrial units — mostly small industries. The state LF government has long been in favour of setting up smaller, pollution-free units that are also labour-intensive. The annual budget of the Left Front government has always emphasised the importance of establishing such units to provide the unemployed, especially from the urban poor, with gainful employment.

The state LF government already has one such industrial taluka off and running at Kasba in south Kolkata. Another taluka, specialising in hosiery, is scheduled to come up at Cossipore in north Kolkata.  Another one is planned for Maheshtala in south 24 Parganas.  In Bengal, 34 industrial talukas are up and running catering to no less than 2000 small-scale industrial units.

East Kolkata has for some years now been witness to factories being closed as the successive union governments went in for an aggressive liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation drive.  A number of factories have had to be closed down here in this area.  Bengal Potteries is one of them. 

The Bengal Potteries unit contained a large tract of land attached to it.  When the factory had to down shutters, throwing many out of jobs, the unit, in liquidation, was taken over by the receiver of Kolkata High Court along with the vast prime land.

The state Left Front government purchased the land from the receiver, Kolkata High Court at a price of Rs 12,00,40,000 (12 crore and 40 thousand rupees).  It then spent Rs 3,35,00,000 (3 crore 35 lakh rupees) for purposes of developing the land and setting up infrastructural facilities.  The land was plotted into 37 parcels for industrial units to be set up.  The nodal agency here is the state LF government’s small-scale industries development corporation.

Inaugurating the Tangra taluka, Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that he hoped for an investment of Rs 20 crore in the Tangra industrial cluster.  Buddhadeb said that the issue of closed factories in areas around Kolkata like Cossipore, Belgatchia, Beliaghata, and Behala was a recurring problem. While setting up industrial clusters in these areas, the state LF government would remain watchful about industrial pollution.

Buddhadeb said that 60 lakh people were engaged in no less than 26 lakh small-scale units in the state today. The figure must be increased further.  Of the 17 lakh-odd poor who live in Kolkata, Buddhadeb pointed out, a large portion was made up of retrenched workers from closed factories.  The aim of the taluka schemes was to ensure jobs for these workers and for members of their families.

The Tangra industrial taluka will host garment production units, leather goods units, plastic goods production units, and engineering units. Taking full advantage of the broad downstream range of the Haldia petrochemical unit, Kolkata already has in operation 19 plastic goods production units.

During the inauguration ceremony, the Bengal chief minister also disclosed that of late, Bengal had had good progress made in the realm of floriculture.  Bengal, he announced, was exporting roses of different hues to the Netherlands known as the ‘land of the tulips.’ On scenting the success of the Bengal roses in the Netherlands, said the chief minister, Japan had recently made enquiries about opening a centre for flower preservation in Kolkata for importing Bengal roses to Japan.

The Tangra taluka opening ceremony had in attendance the Bengal Left Front government’s ministers Bangsa Gopal Chaudhuri (small scale and cottage industries) and Manab Mukherjee (environment).  Also present were Moin-ul Hasan (chairman of Small-scale Industries Development Corporation), and CPI (M) MLA Professor Debesh Das.