Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that Maoists will not be able to fan out their activities in West Bengal.
Addressing the National Council meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said: “They (the Maoists) are trying to spread from West to East. I will not allow them to spread out.”
The Chief Minister said this in response to concerns expressed by a top industrialist about the Maoist threat perception in the State.
Top industrialists of the country were among the participants. Pointing out that the Prime Minister had described the Naxal problem as the biggest internal threat before the country, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that the Maoist problem was not a continuation of the earlier Naxal problem witnessed during the 70s.
“That was tackled administratively and politically. This is a new type of movement and they do not understand ground-realities. In West Bengal, the problem has spilled over from he neighbouring States — Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.”
He said that in West Bengal at present areas under 28 police stations in three districts— Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura - have been declared as disturbed.
Mr. Bhattacharyya made particular mention of the Jindal Steel project at Salboni in Pashim Medinipur , which has become inextricably linked with the Maoist problem in West Bengal.
“As I was returning after the inauguration of the Jindal Steel project, a blast took place and subsequently that area got disturbed, but now work is going on and they (Jindals) will complete the boundary-wall by December.”
The boundary wall around the 4500 acres will be 36-km long.
During his speech earlier, he said “Singur (the erstwhile site for the mother plant of the Tata Nano project) is not everything. After Singur, we have acquired 6,000 acres for a steel plant, and an airport. Things are happening.”
He said that the State was encouraging the cluster concept for industrial development.
