This year was easily one of the most forgettable years for West Bengal as far as industry is concerned. Closure and shutdown of iconic units, recurring incidents of worker violence, has brought back the sceptre of the seventies to the State where investment flow has been tardy.
The closure of at least two heritage units, shutdown at a showpiece investment, and mothballing of a major investment, has cast a pall of gloom on the State’s industrial scenario.
Giving a strong wake up call to the State, the chief executive officer of an operational jute mill was lynched to death by a violent mob as workers went on the rampage on rumours of production curtailment, which they feared would shrink their pay-packets.
A shocked State government immediately got down to evolving a jute policy, which is yet to be formulated, and the over 100 year old industry continues its cycle of closures and re-openings with violence continuing to rock the industry now and then.
Soon after, there was a work suspension at the mother unit of Hindustan Motors at Uttarpara. Billed as Asia’s first automobile factory, the unit had its pride of place in the country till it started losing steam in the wake of competition from new entrants. It has already retrenched its entire managerial workforce.
Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, the jinxed petrochemical unit, which was a showpiece unit of the previous government, continues to be crippled by ownership issues.
However, the most debilitating blow has come through the announcement of the mothballing of the Rs 30,000 crore Jindal Steel project in the State. At a time when land is scarce, the company has offered to return an equivalent portion of the land that it had acquired from farmers (the rest was vested land given by the previous government). However, in a telling comment, the locals have said that they want the industry not their land, even if it is for free.
It is not as if investment is not coming to West Bengal at all. Even as JSW’s project was put on hold, another project took off close by, entailing a Rs 600 crore investment.
A national chamber of commerce was of the opinion that West Bengal still holds its position as an investment destination. The money purses however have not been opened as yet.
